Sea Glass Island (Ocean Breeze) - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,3
and grew and started to include half of Los Angeles.”
“Well, it is what it is now,” Emily said blithely. “Let’s get back to Samantha. Any idea what’s going on with her? She didn’t sound all that happy when we spoke just now. Is her career faltering again?”
Gabi winced. “I’m ashamed to say I haven’t given it much thought. I’ve been a little distracted lately.”
“Understandable,” Emily said. “She hasn’t asked for your PR help, has she?”
“No, but she wouldn’t. I had to badger her into letting me help a few months ago. It seemed to be effective, so I guess I just assumed that things kept on snowballing. In a good way, that is. That’s how it is sometimes, one job leads to another, but I shouldn’t have taken that for granted. I should have asked,” she said, feeling guilty.
“Why? Not everything is up to you to fix,” Emily said, an oddly defensive note in her voice. “If Samantha wanted help, she could have said something. That’s her way, though. She just suffers in silence, then resents it when nobody jumps in to save the day.”
Gabi regarded her younger sister with dismay. “That’s not true, Emily. Samantha’s not like that. Why would you even say something so cruel?”
Emily looked taken aback by Gabi’s vehemence, then buried her face in her hands. “Because I’m mean and spiteful,” she said in a small voice, then lifted her gaze to meet Gabi’s. “What is the matter with me? I always see the worst in her, even when she’s done nothing wrong.”
“It’s times like this when I really wish Mom were still around,” Gabi said softly.
Emily blinked back instant tears at the unexpected reference to their mother, who’d died several years ago. “What does Mom have to do with this?”
“Maybe she would understand why you have this attitude toward our big sister. Dad certainly wouldn’t have any idea. He was oblivious to everything going on at home when we were growing up. I doubt Grandmother was with us enough in the early years before Mom died to know the root of the problems between the two of you.”
Emily sighed. “And it’s increasingly obvious that it isn’t something I can just wish away. These careless, hurtful words just pop out of my mouth sometimes, and I have no idea why.”
“Then dig deeper and figure it out,” Gabi advised. “You and Samantha both mean the world to me, and I don’t want to be caught in the middle. I want us to be sisters, in every positive, loving sense of the word, okay? In fact, in my dream scenario, you and Boone eventually settle back here and Samantha marries a local, too, and we all live blocks apart so our kids can grow up together.”
Emily nodded, her eyes still misty. “I want that, too,” she insisted. “Well, maybe not moving back here full-time, but the rest. I will work this out, Gabi. I promise. Maybe once she’s here, Samantha and I can sit down and hash this out. Who knows? Maybe she stole my favorite doll when I was two and I’ve blocked it from my memory.”
Gabi smiled at the idea of something so innocuous causing a rivalry that had lasted for years. And Emily’s earlier accusations about her sister harboring simmering resentments seemed to speak of something much more complicated.
“Just work it out, sweetie. Whatever it takes.”
Emily settled Daniella back in Gabi’s arms and gave her niece a last pat, then pressed a kiss to Gabi’s cheek. “Done,” she promised.
Gabi watched her sister leave and wondered if it could be that simple.
* * *
Ethan Cole had just seen his final patient of the day, a tourist who’d managed to slice open her foot on a rusty nail on one of the stray boards still around after a recent storm had ripped through the coastal areas of North Carolina. Though most of the shoreline had been cleaned up immediately, debris still washed ashore from time to time, especially along a few more deserted areas of the beach. He’d given her a tetanus shot and four stitches and told her to come back if there was even a hint of any infection at the site of the injury.
He was just finishing up his notes when the door pushed open again and Boone Dorsett wandered into the small emergency clinic that Ethan had established with another doctor who’d also served in Iraq and Afghanistan. They’d agreed that the emergencies here in a small coastal community were unlikely to rise