Not a Second Chance (8 page)

Maybe she should say no. Her plan for the day hadn’t included babysitting Dexter, whom she’d looked after on Monday evening. It was hard to say no when her nephew was involved, but maybe if she did that, her sister would finally understand.

Jo wasn’t a bad person. She really wasn’t. She was just thoughtless and a little self-centered. And showed up at super-inconvenient times.

“Look,” Allison said. “I have plans and…”

Jo glanced over Allison’s shoulder and smiled. “You have company?”

“Yeah.” Allison looked at the couch; Sidney merely lifted a hand.

“Well…” Jo pushed the stroller a little farther inside. “I’m so sorry to do this to you. But I’m going crazy. You’re not really busy, right?”

Allison gripped the bottom of her shirt—which should have been on the floor right now. She had a life, dammit. Just because she was childless didn’t mean she did
nothing
.

But maybe today was not the time to start standing up to her sister. Her plan for the day hadn’t involved babysitting, but spending the day with her annoying ex-boyfriend wasn’t all that fun. Why did Jo have to come over when they were doing the only thing that
was
fun? Dexter might be a good distraction from Sidney and would prevent them from fighting too much. And it would only be for a few hours.

Except if Jo still wanted Allison to babysit when she had company, maybe Jo would never understand that her younger sister wasn’t a drop-in daycare.

“How did you get in the front door?” Allison asked.

“An old couple held it open for me. They were so sweet!”

“Right. How
sweet
of them.”

“Oh, come on.” Jo slapped Allison’s shoulder playfully. “You’re happy to see me, aren’t you? And of course you’re happy to see Dexter.”

“I can look after him today. But next time you show up unannounced, don’t expect me to say yes, okay?”

“But you always do!”

Yeah. Time to break that habit.

Allison looked at Sidney again, half hoping that he would come to her aid, that he’d stick up for her, and Jo would listen. That was the sort of thing he would have done when they were dating. Now he was just staring out the window. Staying out of the way.

It was silly to hope for anything more. She knew that.

Allison’s phone rang, and she answered immediately. Anything to get away from this situation.

“Hello?”

“Hey. It’s Maya. Can you buzz me up?”

“Why are you here?”

“Are you having sex? I can come back later if I’m interrupting.”

“No, no. Come on up.”

And she’d been worried about having ten hours alone with Sidney. Ha.

*

Sidney shoved down his instinct to get up and tell Jo to stop expecting drop-in babysitting services. She’d said she was sorry, but she didn’t sound sorry. Not one bit. He had the impression this happened on a regular basis.

But he was no one to Allison now. No one who should even be introduced to her family, let alone pick a fight with her sister.

He’d never met Jo before. She’d been studying somewhere far away—he couldn’t remember where—when he and Allison were dating. She looked a little like Allison. Same eyes, same nose. But not the same smile.

He tried to remember what Allison had said about Jo.
She’s fun. Outgoing. Sometimes she seems scatterbrained. But she gets in this zone where she’s totally focused and works really hard and forgets to eat. She expects people to give her what she wants. Our parents always catered to her and sort of forgot about me, but that’s not a big deal anymore.

Something like that.

But it was none of his business. Allison could handle it.

“That was Maya,” she said, putting down her phone. “She’s here to—I’m not sure, frankly.”

Maya was probably here to make sure Sidney and Allison were actually spending Saturday together. But Allison wouldn’t say that in front of her sister.

Great. Another visitor to prevent them from having sex. Or stabbing each other.

“I haven’t seen Maya in ages,” Jo said. “How is she? After that thing with her fiancé? Has she gotten over that? That was so horrible, what he did.”

“She’s fine,” Allison said. “But please don’t ask her about it.”

Maya came in a couple minutes later, a large picnic basket in her hand. She did not seem like the picnic-basket type to Sidney.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Jo wrapped her arms around Maya. Maya stepped back and nearly dropped the basket. “Just came by to drop off Dex for a few hours. I should be going now.”

“Hold on,” Maya said. “Allison’s babysitting while she has a
date
?”

“Oh.” Jo twisted her mouth. “You’re on a date? Is that what people do on dates these days—sit on the couch at eleven in the morning?”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what they were doing when you showed up,” Maya muttered.

“I thought he was just your friend.” Jo looked to Allison for confirmation.

Sidney had no idea what Allison would say. That it wasn’t a date? The thought of being on a date with him made her recoil, after all. He wasn’t sure she’d be able to get the word out. Or would she say that yes, she had a date, maybe a double date with Maya and Les? It seemed like Jo might actually consider this a legitimate excuse.

“Yeah. I have a…date,” Allison said, scrunching up her face a little.

He tried not to laugh.

“Well, that sucks,” Jo said. “I mean, not for you, obviously. But I don’t know what to do now.” She stared at the floor, her mouth turned down in a frown that was probably supposed to evoke sympathy. A sad-puppy look.

“Planning,” Maya said, completely unaffected by Jo’s expression. “You should try it sometime, rather than assuming Allison doesn’t have a life.”

“But she usually doesn’t!”

“She’s missed hanging out with friends, hockey, yoga, and I don’t know what else for you.”

“Those things aren’t important,” Jo said.

“But you consider a date important enough? That meets your standards?” Maya walked over to the breakfast bar and slammed down the picnic basket. “This is how she chooses to live her life. You should respect that.”

“I’m right here,” Allison said. “It’s a little weird that you’re talking about me when I can hear every word you say.”

Sidney was distracted by the thought of her wearing tight, stretchy yoga pants that showed
everything
. Yeah, he wanted to see that.

“And as she’s told you many times,” Maya continued, ignoring Allison, “she doesn’t want you to show up and expect her to babysit unless it’s an emergency. You can’t even call an hour beforehand. When she tries to say no, half the time you start to cry or make a big scene. Is that an act to make her feel guilty? I think you have serious problems. You should see a therapist.”

Sidney stayed quiet.
She’s just like any other woman you’ve slept with. You shouldn’t get involved in her family issues.
He glanced at the sleeping child in the stroller, but that reminded him of the things he and Allison had planned.

Well, that wasn’t true. What
he’d
planned for the two of them. She hadn’t wanted any kind of future with him.

Okay, this really wasn’t making him feel better.

“I don’t have serious problems.” Jo’s bottom lip quivered. “I’ll call next time. I promise. But…”

He wondered how many times she’d promised to call then hadn’t. Probably a lot.

But based on Allison’s look of surprise, maybe he was wrong about that.

“You know what?” Maya said. “I’ll make this easy today. Jo, I’ll look after Dexter for two hours. Two hours only. Tell me where you’ll be, and I’ll meet you there. That way Allison can have her date in peace.”

“Really? Oh, thank you!” Jo moved to hug Maya again, then seemed to think better of it. “But if you knew she had a date, why are you here?”

“It was supposed to be a double date, but Les canceled, so I came to tell—Anyway, doesn’t matter. I have no plans. I can look after a baby.”

Jo pulled a thick wad of paper out of her purse.

“Does he come with a manual?” Maya shook her finger. “No. I don’t need a fucking manual to look after a baby.”

“No swearing. Number fifty-three.”

“He’s asleep.”

“He could wake up at any moment.”

“Whatever. I have five brothers and sisters, all younger. I know how to look after babies. Do you want me to babysit or not?”

Two minutes later, Jo was out the door, and Dexter was still in the apartment.

“Knew she wouldn’t turn that down,” Maya said. “You’re such a pushover when it comes to your family, Allison.”

“She’s definitely not a pushover when it comes to me.” Sidney hauled himself off the couch.

“Yeah, exactly. You let Jo take advantage of you, and you would never do that with Sidney.”

“It’s hard because she’s my sister,” Allison said. “My only sister.”

Maya opened the picnic basket and started pulling stuff out. “Maybe we all have that one person we can’t say no to. I can’t believe I let Justin walk all over me like that.”

“But you didn’t know he was dealing drugs, right?” Sidney said.

“You told Sidney the story, but left out the part where Justin was cheating on me? That’s what I mean when I said I let him walk all over me. I considered forgiving him. And now I’m scarred for life.” Maya looked down at a container of dip. “See? I was supposed to go on a lunch date with Les. Look at all this stuff. But I couldn’t go through with one lousy date because I’m so traumatized.”

Allison frowned. “A picnic in the park for a first date?”

“It was Kristy’s idea, not mine. And since I’m not using this stuff, I figured I’d bring it to you two and confirm that you’re actually together. You made quite a face when you called him your date, Allison.”

“Yeah,” Sidney agreed. “I was trying very hard not to laugh.”

Allison shot him a dark look then turned to Maya. “You don’t have to do this. I can take care of my nephew for two hours.”

“No. If you’re looking after him, you’ll be distracted from biting Sidney’s head off. I think Dexter would help you win the bet, even though you wouldn’t be able to have sex. But a romantic picnic—that would cause you more problems.”

“If that’s what you want us to do, why are you taking everything out of the picnic basket?”

Maya looked down at the food strewn across the counter. “Just for something to do. But I guess you could be lazy and have a picnic indoors. Yes, do that instead.”

It sounded just like his fourth date with Allison. Sidney had bought a bunch of food from the fancy grocery store in Yorkville. The plan was to take her up to his parents’ house when they were gone for the weekend and eat outside. The backyard was a decent size, with a nice big tree, and they could spread out a blanket—it had seemed cute to his twenty-two-year-old self.

But the day came, and it poured buckets. So the picnic wasn’t happening. He still took her to his parents’ house—it was much nicer than the place he rented with three other guys near campus—and spread out the blanket on the floor in the reading room. That was what his parents called the large room on the second floor at the back of the house. The entire west-facing wall was glass, which gave them a nice view of the backyard where they were supposed to be.

He remembered that day well—and not just the part where they had sex for the first time.

The whole indoor picnic thing that Maya was suggesting…he didn’t believe it was a coincidence. Didn’t believe she’d backed out of a date that just happened to be a picnic, then brought the food over to Allison’s. It was a little too convenient.

Well, Maya’s odd form of sabotage—it seemed like she wanted to remind them of romance and broken hearts rather than let them think about sex all the time—was working on him. Because after he recalled his fourth date with Allison, after he recalled the best moments of their relationship, he couldn’t help but compare them to the worst parts. He couldn’t help but remember the end. And even though it was a long time ago now, he found his hand tightening on the arm of the couch as he thought about what he’d had, and what he’d lost.

Sidney turned to Allison. “You remember that date? The time we had an indoor picnic?” He hoped Maya would admit that there had been no canceled picnic with Les. That her plan all along had been to bring the picnic basket to Allison’s.

But she didn’t admit to anything.

“I better be going,” Maya said cheerfully, walking over to the stroller. “Dexter and I are going to have a grand time walking around the city and—I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. You two have fun trying not to stab each other!”

When she was gone, Allison stared at the food, shaking her head. “That was all a lie. Her date is tonight. And Maya would never agree to a picnic. We’ll eat the food, but we are not setting out a blue-and-white checkered picnic blanket on the floor of my living room.”

“You even remember the pattern on the picnic blanket?”

“I know. It’s stupid.”

Even more stupid: he liked that she remembered. That her memory had decided the day mattered enough to hold on to that detail.

“You sure you don’t want to eat on the floor?” he asked, suddenly feeling the need to be contrary. “Come on. You eat at a table all the time. But how often do you eat on the floor?” He lowered himself to the ground and crossed his legs. Shit, this wasn’t all that comfortable. He never sat like this anymore.

“Do you want to make it to Sunday evening or not?” she snapped. “Don’t play along with their games.”

He stood up and walked over to Allison. Her hands gripped the edge of the breakfast bar.

“See?” he said. “There are other things that are just as painful as being forced to spend forty-eight hours with me. Like watching your friend tear into your sister for how she treats you. That was pretty awkward. Though it was rather amusing from my point of view.”

He’d added that last part because it seemed expected of him. But he’d been more uncomfortable with Jo’s behavior than he let on; he wished he could have done something.

“I’m sure it was,” she said.

“Did I behave how you wanted me to?”

“When do you ever do what I want?”