29

The coffee mug sits on the corner of my desk, taunting me while I try to focus on work emails. I should go to her and apologize, but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

I'm sorry for being a dick. Books or music?

I don't hear a peep out of Bella, and I'm playing a mind-numbing game of solitaire on my computer when the girls get home from school. I decide to come out from hiding and find Alice digging through the fridge for a snack while Angela drops her bags on the dining table.

"Hey, girls."

"I have a book report that's due tomorrow, so I'm probably going to be holed up in my room for hours," Alice, who has been somewhat tolerable lately, says and pulls out her best pout. "Unless you want to help me?"

"How long have you had to get it done?"

"Two weeks." She rolls her eyes and heads for the stairs. "I know, I know. You may delay but time will not and all that jazz."

Angela tells me she's going to find Bella, and I stop her.

She's been glued to Bella's side since she arrived. If anyone can help me apologize, it will be Ang.

"Do you have any homework?"

"A little, but it can wait. Why?"

"I thought we could go get ice cream like the good old days?" I offer.

"Okay ..." She follows me out to the car and says nothing until we're three blocks away from the house. "So, what did you do?"

"Who said I did anything?"

"Bella wasn't waiting for me in the kitchen like she usually is. She didn't text me when school let out, and you were all too ready to escape the house as soon as I got home. I'll ask again—what did you do?"

I open up like a can of sardines. "I know you would never take advantage, but you know how your sister is. Even if Alice won't accept gifts, she hasn't been doing anything around the house since Bella got here. I didn't hire her to be a housekeeper, but that's how she's acting."

"You told her to stop doing the things she enjoys doing. I'd be pissed too." Angela is quick to apologize for cursing, but I just wave it off.

Sometimes, being an easy child has its advantages.

"I don't know how to tell her I'm sorry, and I don't think a gift card is going to cut it."

"Nope," she pops. "And you can't buy her with fancy chocolates like you used to with Mom. You're screwed."

"Thanks, Ang," I deadpan.

"Do you know why I accept the ludicrous gifts Bella gets me, like a rhinestone-encrusted—" She huffs. "I know they probably aren't rhinestones, but I tell myself they are a graphing calculator?"

I almost hit the brakes in surprise. "Jesus, how much money is she spending on you?"

Angela sighs. "It's not the value of a gift but the meaning behind it. Bella thought I'd like it, and she's right because it reminds me of her when I pull it out in class and it catches the sunlight."