Free Heart and Snow (Texas Highlanders Ice Hockey) by Suzan Butler Page B

“What’s up?”
    “No beer?”
    Jo rolled her eyes. “You’re nineteen, Michele. I’m ten years older than you. I cannot buy you alcohol, regardless of the fact that Mom doesn’t want it in the house.”
    “You’re such a goody-goody.” Michele pouted, one pink lip protruding from her mouth. “I suppose it’s easy for you. You’re always lucky. Looks, the rich guy, the awesome house, alcohol before you were twenty-one.” The lip protruded more. Jo resisted the urge to yank on it. Michele definitely had baby sister syndrome, which made Jo want to act like the older sister and pick on her.
    Damn adulthood.
    She opted for the maturity angle, to her own regrets. “Cody wasn’t rich when we got married.”
    “Didn’t take him long.”
    “Are you seriously jealous of my husband, Michele?”
    “Not really. I’m just… not feeling great about myself lately.” Michele frowned. Jo sighed, feeling for her sister. Michele did a lot of stuff at school. Maybe she was just overwhelmed.
    “How’s school going?”
    Michele hesitated, her gaze shifting away and then back. “It’s okay.”
    “Yeah? The engineering classes hard?” Michele had always been a super smart cookie. She was currently going to school in Dallas for electrical engineering.
    “Can I tell you something? And you don’t tell Mom and Dad?”
    “Sure,” Jo said uncertainly. She and Michele had never been close enough to be confidants, though it was always something she’d imagined she would do with a sister. The reality was just different than the desire. “It doesn’t involve killing, does it? I don’t have the strength for burying a body today, Michele.”
    “No!” Michele giggled. Her face sobered, dropping the smile. “Okay… I dropped out of the engineering program six months ago.”
    Jo stared at her sister. Bomb drop, anyone? “What? Why?”
    “I didn’t like it anymore, Joey. It was… boring.”
    “What did Dad say?” Dad had been the one pushing Michele to do the engineering program. He’d been super jazzed when Michele had made it in the program.
    “Mom and Dad don’t know.”
    Oh, Good Lord Almighty. This was just like her sister, to just up and quit when things got hard. Or to hide things to keep from confronting her problems. “You need to tell them!”
    “I will! Just… not yet.”
    “What are you going to do? I mean, no school? Mom’s not going to be happy.”
    “I… I want to be an artist. I want to paint.”
    Okay, so this at least made some sort of sense. Michele had a huge collection of paintings growing up. Gorgeous, colorful portraits of people.
    “Really?” Jo met her sister’s eyes. “You really want to do that for a living?”
    “Yeah. See, there’s this art school and I signed up for it. I got accepted!”
    “That’s fantastic, Michele.” Oh, man, but Jo couldn’t help thinking of how much Mom and Dad would be disappointed. They’d really pushed for this engineering degree.
    “It’s a really good school, one of the best in the world. It’s also in Italy.”
    Jo’s jaw dropped open, and she put her hand on her sister’s to keep her from babbling on.. “Wait… Italy?”
    “You can’t tell Mom and Dad yet. I’m… waiting until after Christmas.”
    “When are you supposed to be there?”
    “Mid-January.”
    “Oh. My. God. Michele.”
    “I know! Shh!” Michele put her hand on Jo’s leg. “Mom and Dad will hear you.”
    “This is something you need to discuss with them. “
    “I know. I know. I will.” Michele sighed. “I just didn’t want to ruin Christmas, because they’re going to be mad at me.”
    They sat there for a minute. Jo warred with herself until finally she asked, “Can you keep a secret?”
    Michele sat up. “Yes. Tell me now.”
    Jo bit her lip, suddenly nervous. But keeping this secret was killing her. She should be able to trust her sister, and she could look at this like she was practicing for telling her mother, right?
    “Come on, Joey. I told you