Free The Sister Season by Jennifer Scott Page B

lived that double life. Surely her mom had not been seduced by the man they’d all lived with. He must have shown her a different side of himself as well, at least in the beginning. To think otherwise was just . . . depressing.
    Claire had come inside only long enough to grab Elise’s coat again, and had disappeared out the front door, her tan legs gleaming against the whiteness outside. She said nothing about where she was going—just left with a determined stride, and it was obvious that Bradley was not with her. Later, Julia would peer out the back door to find him sitting on the steps of the sunporch, all but camouflaged by that blasted jungle of poinsettia plants, a bottle of booze she’d not seen him procure squeezed between his thighs.
    The house ticked and creaked as dusk raced toward them, the children’s voices floating, the silence of dysfunction enveloping them all. Eli, stretched out across his cot in Julia’s bedroom like a mummy. Maya, silent and brooding behind a darkened door. Claire, outside in the whipping wind. Bradley, getting drunk alone in a cloud of humid plant stench.
    It all made Julia feel so bleak, so empty, that she suddenly felt that if she didn’t speak to someone soon, she might break.
    Sitting on the hearth in the den, staring at the Christmas tree, which was all but bowled over by handfuls of garish tinsel—what on earth had possessed her mother to pile all that tinsel on there?—Julia pulled out her cell phone and dialed home.
    “You’re there.” Tai.
    A sigh, heavy with relief, shuddered through Julia’s body. Just hearing her husband’s voice made her feel better, feel grounded.
    “I’m here.”
    “And the others?”
    “They’re here too. Everyone. Maya brought the whole gang.”
    “Aw, Doc, I should’ve come.”
    Julia smiled at Tai’s use of their shared nickname. They’d begun calling each other “Doc” years ago, when they graduated within one week of each other, both with their doctorates. For a while, just the word
doc
would spawn luxurious afternoons of excited sex between them—they were so turned on by themselves. But eventually it became just a nickname, something private and intimate between the two of them. He hadn’t called her Doc in ages.
    “I do wish you were here with us.”
    “But the project.”
    She nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. She was well aware of how important his research project was to him. He’d been working on it for years, and it was nearing completion. To ask a scientist to step away from a project this close to the finish line would have been almost cruel. He’d have come for Robert’s funeral if that was what she’d wanted, but he’d have been little consolation anyway. His mind would have been with his students, his research.
    But, still. To hold his hand. To lean back against him and feel him stroke her hair.
    “It’s okay, Tai. It’s not a big deal. But there’s been a change. I’ve got to stay until the twenty-seventh.”
    There was a pause. “Through Christmas?”
    “I know. But we were going low-key this year anyway.” He didn’t comment. “It’s just a date on the calendar. There’s been a hiccup in the funeral plans.”
    A burst of air into the phone. “Okay. You’re right. It’s just a date. We’ll have Christmas on the twenty-eighth.”
    “I’m sorry. You can come down here for Christmas.”
    “No, no, it’s okay. I’ll just work. How’s Eli? Loving the rural life?”
    Julia took a deep breath, peering toward the bedroom where she knew her son was still lying down. Chewed the side of her thumb, which smelled like smoke, filling her with a wave of guilt. She’d promised them both that she would quit smoking. As far as either of them knew, she had. Tai claimed that a scientist such as herself had no business partaking in any activity that had already been proven to shorten the human life span, unless said scientist was studying cures for said life-span shortening. Eli,