It Takes Two (32 page)

Isabelle sat bolt upright, a scream lodged in her throat.

Emma stood at the front of the bus.

“Holy crap! You scared me.” She glared at her sister.

Emma leaned over and turned the volume on the stereo down. “Did you drop the pendant off or not? I just got a text that said they didn’t find it at the drop site.”

“I still have it. I’ll take it over there tomorrow.”

“Dammit. I’m going to have to pay for another day since it wasn’t returned by midnight.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. “You got on the wrong party bus if you’re looking for sympathy.”

Emma sighed. “Fine. I’m sure I can talk them out of the additional fee.” She plopped down on the bench across from Isabelle. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

Isabelle looked around. “I was just wondering if my sister and her friends drank all the liquor on board and if not, where the rest was.”

Emma leaned over to open one of the mini fridges. “Peach schnapps and champagne. Which do you want?”

“Either. Both.”

Emma pulled out the bottle of schnapps, poured two fingers’ worth into a disposable paper cup and handed it over.

Isabelle shot it back and swallowed with a satisfied “aahh”.

“You okay?” Emma asked.

Isabelle leveled her with a serious look. “Of course not. Shane’s pissed and leaving.”

Emma leaned in. “He can’t leave.”

“Uh, he can and is.”

“He can’t.” Emma shook her head. “Part of the whole plan here was to help him see that you can still have a good time
and
take care of yourself. We’ll do yoga and stuff all day. I brought this great recipe for fruit smoothies and everyone brought a different salad recipe to try. Then at night we’ll go out and have a good time. Maybe a barbecue. Oh, and there’s this great bar in Rapid City. It’s got country dancing and…”

“No.”

Emma stopped and blinked at Isabelle. “No to which part?”

“No to all of it.” Isabelle felt a knot of insecurity tighten her stomach. This was who Emma was. Shane was right about that. Emma couldn’t completely change her personality. If Isabelle started saying no, if she distanced herself from the good times with Emma, would she distance herself from Emma in general?

“I don’t understand,” Emma said. But her expression said that she was afraid she did understand.

“I can’t keep up like this, Em.”

“I get that you’re scared,” Emma said quietly. “But I don’t get why you want to curl up into a ball now and give up on everything.”

Isabelle felt tears prick at her eyes again. “I don’t want to do that,” she said. “I don’t want anything to change. But it has to.”

Emma looked almost mad. “I look at you and I don’t see a sick person, Iz. I see the same girl I’ve always seen. The one who has always trusted me and wanted to be with me and who’s always been there for me.”

Isabelle felt fear and frustration shoot through her bloodstream. She got up from the bench. “Is that what this is?” she asked. “You’re worried about losing your sidekick? You’re worried you’re going to end up calling Amanda or Conner for bail money and you won’t have anyone to share the blame with?”

Emma stood up too. “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. You seem
fine
. And, believe it or not, I’ve been reading and learning about it too. There are no x-rays or anything that shows what’s going on.”

Isabelle stared at her. “I know that.”

“It’s based on a set of symptoms.”

“Yes.”

“But there are lots of reasons that someone could have those symptoms.”

Isabelle crossed her arms. She knew where this was going. She and her therapist had talked about the fact that a lot of people didn’t believe there was such a thing as fibromyalgia because there were no outward signs—no rashes, nothing that would show on an MRI or x-ray. People with fibromyalgia
looked
fine so it was hard for some people, even loved ones, to believe that they weren’t fine.

“Yes, there are other things that could cause most of the symptoms,” she agreed.

“And,” Emma said, her tone changing slightly, becoming almost tender. “I’m not saying that you don’t feel bad. But are you sure it’s not depression or stress?”

Isabelle was torn between wanting to lash out at Emma for being one of the doubters and wanting to hug her, and assure her that even though this was all real, Isabelle was going to be okay. She knew that was Emma’s true concern. Not that Isabelle was crazy, but that she was…different.

She had to take control here.

Emma had always led their escapades. Their relationship had been built on fun and laughter and sharing secrets and wonderful memories. But now Isabelle had to take charge. This was new territory and Emma didn’t know the way.

Isabelle stepped forward and took Emma’s hand. “I went through all of that. I promise. I almost
wanted
it to be depression. There are great medications for depression. But it’s not. If it was stress, if my job, for instance, was causing me to feel like this, I’d quit in a heartbeat, I swear.”

Emma met her gaze and Isabelle saw the tears shimmering there. After a long moment, Emma grabbed Isabelle in a big hug. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I just…I want you to be okay. I want you to be happy and to feel good and to be healthy.”

Isabelle hugged her back, letting her tears run. “I know you do, Em. I know.”

“I screwed this up,” Emma said. She took a deep breath and pulled back. “I’ll go talk to Shane.”

“No.” Isabelle took a deep breath as well. “No, he needs to go. He probably already left.” He’d seemed in a huge hurry to get away.

“We’ll run him down,” Emma decided, turning toward the front of the bus. “We’ll follow him in this party bus, blowing the horn all the way to Nebraska if we have to.”

Isabelle wiped her eyes and laughed. “I’m not sure a pink party bus playing ‘La Cucaracha’ is the right way to go.” She sighed. “I have to get some stuff figured out before I go after him anyway.”

Emma turned back. “You sure? Because I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Isabelle stepped forward again to hug her sister. “Really?” she asked.

“Really.”

“Then…I need you to pack up your girls and your party bus and leave.”

Emma pulled back. She looked at Isabelle for several heartbeats. Finally she said, “Yeah, okay. In the morning.”

“Sounds good. We can do yoga and have smoothies before you go.”

Emma laughed. “Deal.”

They shut the bus off and walked back to the house with their arms around each other. Isabelle noticed that her car was gone. Which meant Shane was gone.

She tried to ignore the feeling of loss. It was temporary. She was going home to him in a few days.

Still, it felt…wrong…for Shane to not be here.

Then a thought occurred to her. “Uh, Em, you’re going to have to
really
sweet talk the Big Time people.”

“Why’s that?”

“The pendant is in the glove compartment of my car. Which is now on its way back to Mitchell.”

Emma processed that, then groaned. “Dammit.”

Isabelle chuckled and squeezed her sister.

At the porch, Emma said, “Shane is going to forgive me for showing up here, right?”

“He’s going to have to,” Isabelle said. “Once we’re living together, he’s going to see a lot of you.”

“You’re moving in with him?”

Isabelle smiled, the rightness of it coursing through her. “Definitely.”

“Then, do you think Shane would lend me the money to pay for keeping the pendant until I can send it back?” Emma asked.

Isabelle laughed. “Absolutely not.”

“But it’s kind of his fault that it didn’t get turned in on time.”

“Does it help you to know it was totally worth it?” Isabelle asked Emma.

“See? Maybe I should hang around. I can send the girls back on the party bus and you and I can—”

“Emma?”

“Yeah?”

“No.”

Emma tipped her head to the side. “It’s still weird hearing that from you, but you’re getting better at it.”

“Thanks.” Isabelle opened the front door and nudged Emma inside. “But I have a feeling I’m going to get a lot more practice saying it to you before it sticks.”

Chapter Twelve

“Hang on,” Emma said from the Camel Pose the next morning. “You think you’re fun
because of
Shane?”

“And you,” Isabelle said moving into Heron Pose. “You’re the ones who crave the fun and craziness.”

Olivia snorted from where she was lying on the yoga mat on her back, eating the rest of Isabelle’s gummy bears. She didn’t do group exercise, even with her sisters. She ran. By herself. In the quiet park or along the river. In total silence. She didn’t even take an iPod. She said she needed the run less for exercise and more for the release. In any case, she considered yoga a spectator sport.

“Bullshit,” Emma said.

Isabelle frowned at them as she transitioned to a Garland Pose. “What? You and Share are the fun ones—ask anyone.”

“Emma and Shane are the loud ones, the ones who like to be the center of attention—that’s what distracts everyone from the fact that you’re a total instigator,” Olivia said, biting the head off a bear.

“I am?” Isabelle thought about that. “Well, I guess I have ideas sometimes.”

“A lot of the time,” Emma said, stretching an arm overhead. “I come up with stuff that gets attention, but your stuff is the creative stuff. And you bring the ideas to me because you know I’ll love them and go for it. But they come from you.”

“Like all the sex stuff with Shane,” Olivia said. “I know you said it was to keep his interest, but I don’t believe you were
un
interested for one second.”

“And he’s like me. He’ll go along for the good time any day,” Emma said.

“Shane instigates plenty of stuff,” Isabelle said.

“Sure. Conner got that tattoo he didn’t really want,” Emma said.

“And Cody got that dog he didn’t really want,” Olivia commented.

“Exactly,” Isabelle exclaimed.

“Sure,” Emma agreed. “Shane’s…”

“Shane,” Olivia and Isabelle said together.

“Right. He’s Shane. You can’t change that. You wouldn’t want to. But you can’t go around thinking that it’s all him. Or me.
You’re
a part of all the fun.”

Isabelle had to admit that the pendant caper had been fun. She’d been the one disappointed when it was over. She’d been the one to keep it going given the tiniest chance.

And okay, Shane’s sexual appetite had been a great reason to look up and try some stuff she’d been curious about—and
really
liked once she did try it.

“I’m an instigator.”

“Yeah, a big one,” Olivia said.

“So the idea of cutting Shane out like the other stuff you think you have to avoid wouldn’t have worked anyway,” Em said. “You would have gone looking for some fun and excitement within a week.”

Emma was right. She didn’t want Shane in her life just because he was fun. She also wanted him because he shared in whatever fun she already had going, he made things
more
fun and, when things weren’t fun at all, he made her feel better. Not having Shane around would be awful.

Like how she’d felt this morning after waking up
alone.

“But I do need to cut stuff out,” Isabelle said.

“Or maybe you need to be a grownup,” Emma said.

Isabelle felt her eyebrows rise. “Excuse me?”

“Instead of partying ’til two, you go home at eleven. Instead of four tequila shots, you take one and drink club soda after. You sleep in once in a while. And maybe you tell me no once in a while.”

Isabelle lost her balance, tipping over onto her mat. “
You
are lecturing me about being responsible and saying no?”

And sounding a lot like Shane as she did it, Isabelle thought to herself.

“I read a few chapters in that book last night. The
Living and Loving
book. You just have to take care of yourself.”

“You read part of that book last night?” Isabelle was touched that Emma had picked the book up. Not to mention impressed with her reading speed. They’d finally gotten to bed well after one a.m. and then had risen for yoga at eight.

Isabelle noticed that none of the girls Emma had brought along for the “spa weekend” were up and at ’em this morning, though.

“Yeah.” Emma rolled her eyes. “And hell, I should take some of the advice too. The fracture and surgery and rehab have shown me that sometimes you just have to slow down. And it’s not all bad.”

Isabelle was beyond moved by the way her sister was reacting after their talk last night. “I could teach you to knit,” she said lightly.

Emma groaned. “I said slow down, not never have sex again.”

“Hey, I’ve been having plenty of sex.”

“Yeah with
Shane
. You can only knit around people who love you unconditionally.”