Free The Sister Season by Jennifer Scott

slowly bring the room back to life. Julia turned her head to see the dumpling batter bowl empty. Her mom put the lid on the pot and stepped away, letting the dumplings rise on top of the apple mixture. Distantly, she was aware of Will singing again and the murmuring between Bradley and Molly, who had finished her crackers and wanted to play outside.
    Claire sat staring down into her empty mug, as motionless as Eli, and suddenly Julia was sure she’d done the right thing telling Claire about her son. In that moment, the two seemed connected on some level, even if neither of them knew it.
    “Can you stay a few days longer?” Elise asked, and with a start Julia realized she was talking to her.
    “Oh. Um, yeah. Shouldn’t be a problem. Semester’s finished anyway. Tai can manage on his own. It’ll be fine.”
    “He can drive down for Christmas, of course.”
    Julia nodded. “Yeah. Good idea. I’ll ask him.”
    Elise raised her voice. “Claire? What about you?”
    Julia thought she saw her sister’s red-rimmed eyes redden even more as she thought it over. She cleared her throat, then nodded. “Believe it or not, there’s even less for me in California right now than there is for me here.”
    Another awkward silence filled the air, the kids finishing their snacks and scooting off into the front room, where the television blared to life. Julia wondered what Claire had meant by there being less for her in California than in Missouri, and realized too late that she’d been so intent on telling Claire all of her problems, she’d never even asked Claire about her own life. What was it like for her in California? What had she been doing all these years? Was there anyone special in her life? Claire gazed through the back door blankly, and then got up and stood in front of it instead, hands on her hips, hair sticking out in sprigs and fits.
    “Mom, what kind of fern is that?” she asked, but before Elise could answer, she’d pushed the door open and stepped out onto the porch, almost dreamily.
    Elise started to follow her, but was interrupted by the doorbell. She visibly jumped, then looked from the porch to the front room, as if she couldn’t quite figure out how to be in both places at once. The bell rang again, and Molly’s voice singsonged, “Someone’s at the door, Grandma! And she’s got a present!” Elise gave one more look to Claire’s back and then headed instead for the front room.
    The motion made things seem more normal, more approachable, and Julia finally found the nerve to reach out to Eli’s back. She touched his shoulder lightly and leaned forward to talk directly into his ear. She couldn’t see his face; maybe it was better that way.
    “Some crazy stuff, huh?”
    He shrugged, wordless.
    “Probably I should have warned you about Aunt Claire’s and Aunt Maya’s little feud.”
    Again with the shrugging.
    “Want to go for a walk? I’ll tell you all about it,” she said. “It’s a juicy story.”
    The boy still didn’t move, but his voice (God, how Julia was having a hard time getting used to that man-voice of his) floated over his shoulder, icy and sharp as the sleet that had been pelting her face by the garage before. Maybe sharper, actually. “Dad called me. He’s, like, blowing up my phone.”
    Julia sighed, defeated, her chin sinking to her breastbone. Of course she had expected Dusty to call Eli. He was exactly the kind of father who would. It was one of the things she would always love about Dusty, his desire to be connected to his son. But . . . she supposed she wished he would have waited until after the funeral, until after she got back to Kansas City, to make his presence known. It was just like Dusty to give her feelings, her needs, no thought whatsoever.
    And why would he?
she thought. His last words to her before hanging up had been:
I trusted you to not screw him up, Julia. And you did.
    “You told him,” Eli said accusingly. “He wants me to come live with