My Sister's Cure Was Always My Man novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: No Locks

In the packed car and at the hot springs, the family piles on, and Josie quietly points Bianca at the wrong shower.

We left at sunrise, seven of us packed into two cars.

I rode in the back of the first one with Caleb on one side and Aunt Gwen on the other.

I had put his headphones on him before we left.

Mom twisted around from the front seat with her guilty face.

"About last night, Josie. I didn't see the whole thing. But your sister can't help it. Don't take it to heart."

My cousin leaned over the seat. "What happened last night?"

Aunt Gwen told it before I could say a word, and she told it wrong.

"Poor Bianca," my other aunt said from the third row. "When an illness hits, who can control it?"

Then she looked at me. "Don't be so harsh. Boyfriends come and go. Caleb is handsome and rich. If he can't be your husband, he can be your brother-in-law. Either way he stays in the family."

Bianca sat by the window and went pink.

"Caleb is wonderful," she said softly. "But he's Josie's. I would never have touched him if I weren't sick."

Mom turned to me. "See how considerate she is? Honestly, they look better together."

"You've been sulking since we left," Aunt Gwen said. "It was one little thing. You're petty, Josie. Nothing like Bianca."

Everybody nodded.

I stayed quiet and watched the mountains come up out of the haze.

I had heard every one of these lines before, about Caleb and about every man after him.

Caleb pulled one earphone off and looked at me.

"Are you okay?" he said. "You're breathing fast."

"I'm fine," I said.

He studied me for another second and put the earphone back.

We reached the lodge at noon.

It sat on a ridge of dark pines, three floors of logs and glass, and Caleb had already called ahead to have every room aired out.

There were nine bedrooms.

My parents and Bianca took rooms on the second floor, beside each other.

My other aunt took one. My cousin and her boyfriend went up to the third floor.

Aunt Gwen and her husband took the left room on the first floor.

That left the middle room and the empty room beside it, on the same hall.

Everyone went off to unpack.

Only Bianca lingered on the stairs, watching to see which door we would choose.

I took Caleb into the middle room.

Before I shut the door, I said loudly, "By the way, none of the doors here have locks. We're all family, so it should be fine."

"The Rainiers never put any in," Caleb said, because it was true.

Everyone agreed it was fine.

Bianca's eyes flashed.

After lunch we all went to the hot springs.

The pools sat behind the lodge in the pines, steaming in the cold.

Aunt Gwen laughed from the water. "Bianca, don't have an episode out here. If you touch Caleb, Josie will never let it go."

Bianca glanced at Caleb and bit her lip. "Don't worry. I'll control myself."

"If you can't, it's all right," Mom said quickly. "Josie won't blame you."

I wrapped a towel around my shoulders and smiled.

"Of course not," I said. "If Bianca loses control, we'll all understand. She can't pick when it happens."

Then I looked around the pool.

"But there are a lot of men here today. Just open your eyes before an episode. You wouldn't want to walk in on the wrong man."

My uncle's eyes slid over Bianca's shoulders and stayed there.

Mom snapped, "What an awful thing to say about your sister."

"You're heartless," my other aunt said.

Aunt Gwen laughed. "So what if she walks in on the wrong man? If Bianca is sick, we accept it. We're not petty like you."

My uncle nodded. "Young people are so rigid."

They spent forty minutes attacking me in that water.

I let them.

Every word was one more thing they could not take back.

At last Dad said we should wash up before dinner.

As the others went in, I touched my uncle's sleeve.

"Uncle, the hot water in your room is out," I said. "Use the empty room next to ours. It's got a good heater."

"Oh, is it?" he said, delighted. "Thank you, sweetheart."

In the hall I turned to Caleb and raised my voice.

"Caleb, our shower takes forever to warm up. Go use the empty room's tonight."

Bianca was three steps behind us on the stairs.

I did not look back.

She slowed on purpose and watched us until we went into the middle room together.

Only then did she go upstairs.

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