"Robb tells me you're a decorator," Talisa said over dinner.
Sansa nodded and finished chewing a piece of roasted summer squash before answering, "I am."
"Is there a family discount?" Talisa asked with a little laugh. "I'd love for you to take a look at our place."
"It's not like our place really lacks decoration," Robb said. "It lacks being unpacked."
"Ah, moving. Not fun," Willas interjected.
Robb just glanced at him and didn't comment.
"Still, it might be fun to have your sister take a look after we are unpacked and give us some pointers," Talisa said.
Sansa wondered how much more she could fit in her mouth so she wouldn't have to answer. The last thing she wanted to do was see the home Robb shared with his wife. It was hard enough to sit here and pretend that she wasn't uncomfortable, and that she hadn't noticed how fucking hot was, how he'd grown into such a handsome man. A sister wasn't supposed to notice those things.
"If Sansa wants to I suppose," Robb muttered.
"Well, that's what I'm saying," Talisa said, and there was more than a little irritation in her voice. "I'm not saying she has to."
Robb's jaw clenched and he sipped his beer.
Sansa glanced at their mother, wondering if she'd noticed the tension between Robb and Talisa. Catelyn frowned slightly and focused her attention on her plate.
"So, Robb, Sansa tells me you're a law professor," Willas said.
Robb nodded. "I am."
"Is it like on TV?" Willas asked with a smile. "Do you put the fear of God in your students? Make them piddle on the rug?"
"Not exactly, but I do make them work hard."
"Don't let him fool you. He'd a taskmaster," Talisa said. "I've sat in on a couple of his classes and he made me nearly piddle on the rug and I was just observing."
"He gets that side from his father," Catelyn chimed in.
Silence fell over the table. Thinking of her father always made Sansa sad. He had been taken much too soon from them, and Catelyn had never quite recovered from it. One minute he was there, the next minute he'd been diagnosed with liver cancer and was gone.
She remembered Robb flying out for the wake and the funeral. All of them had been in a daze. She did remember them fucking the night of the funeral in her bedroom. It had been sweaty and awkward and rushed because they'd been trying to be quiet. Her orgasm had been less that satisfactory. He'd been gone the next morning, and it was almost as though he hadn't been there at all.
She remembered wondering if fucking your sister counted as cheating on your wife.
Sansa looked over at her mother. "How's the fish, Mom?"
"I'm pretending it's a steak," Catelyn replied.
"And how is that working out for ya?" Robb asked.
She smiled. "Just fine."
"Maybe I'll take you for a steak later this week," Robb told her.
"Absolutely not," Sansa said.
Robb looked down the table at her. "Sansa, it won't hurt her to have a steak once in a while."
"She had steak last week and I told her she could have it every two weeks."
"Every two weeks? I'm sorry, but are you her keeper?"
She glared at him. "No, but considering I was the one that was around when she had the heart attack and I was the one that actually talked to the doctors, I figure I know what's going on better than you do."
"Robb, Sansa, that's enough," Catelyn scolded them gently. "I'm fine with the fish, Robb. I'm just teasing your sister."
Robb nodded and stabbed a carrot with his fork.
Silence fell again.
"So, Robb, do you follow any sports?" Willas asked.
Sansa wanted to tell him to just not bother.
"So, Sansa, I was wondering if perhaps you and I could have lunch sometime?" Talisa asked her.
Shit. She hadn't really planned on this part. The part where Robb's wife wanted to bond with her. She'd kind of planned on her and Robb not having much communication outside of their family home, and that included not having to socialize with each other's significant others. She hadn't really envisioned her, Robb, Talisa, and Willas going to brunch on Sundays together and then going antiquing. That rather sounded like the ninth ring of hell to her.
"Uh, yeah, let me just check my schedule and see when I'm free," Sansa said with a smile.
"When do you start work, Robb?" Catelyn asked.
"Next week," he replied. "I'm going tomorrow to sign some papers and get situated."
"So, have you and Willas set a date yet?" Talisa asked Sansa.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sansa could see Robb stiffen. He then pushed his chair back , grabbed his plate, and sauntered off to the kitchen.
"No, we haven't," Willas answered.
What he didn't add was how Sansa kept putting off the discussion, claiming she wanted a long engagement and time to save some money. Willas went along with it because he was Willas and the most easy-going person on the planet, but she knew that even he had his limits. She had a feeling he was reaching it, too.
"Well, if you need any help I'd be happy to do that for you," Talisa said.
Sansa smiled again, a fake one, and waited until Robb returned before she excused herself and brought her plate to the kitchen.
Soon, the kitchen was full of people again as the cleaned up from dinner and Robb made coffee. Talisa told them all that when they were ready she'd made a fruit salad for dessert.
The kitchen felt too small with Robb in it. It felt as though he had taken it over with his presence and his body. Sansa didn't know what to say to him and it seemed he didn't know what to say to her either. They never really seemed to talk to each other, but rather around each other. It was odd.
Finally, sometime after dessert, Talisa and Robb left and Sansa said a half-hearted good-bye that she was sure got lost in her mother and Willas's goodbyes. Then, Willas excused himself to check the score of the football game and left Catelyn and Sansa alone together.
Sansa cleaned up while her mother sipped her coffee.
"She had an affair on him, you know."
Sansa nearly dropped the plate in her hand in the sink. She put it in the dishwasher carefully and said, "What?"
"Talisa had an affair on your brother. Someone she worked with. It's part of the reason they decided to move out here. A fresh start, he said."
Sansa just gaped at her mother. "She cheated on him?"
"They've been in therapy. Did you notice that almost every time Robb left the room he gave her a kiss?"
Sansa hadn't. She'd been too busy trying not to notice anything about him. She shook her head.
"It was some stupid thing their therapist wanted them to try. I've no idea why."
Sansa made like a guppy before actual words came forth. "I'm…I just…wow."
"She said he wasn't giving her any affection. That he seemed disinterested in her."
Sansa blinked.
"I like her but I think she might be a bit too needy for your brother."
Sansa wasn't buying the "I like her" bit for one second. It was right there in the tone of her voice what Catelyn thought of Talisa. She wasn't impressed. Sansa had to admit that at the moment she wasn't either.
Not enough affection? What did that even mean?
Perhaps because of you, the little voice in her head suggested.
Fuck off, she thought.
So, I want you to be nice to your brother, okay? He's not as happy as he could be right now."
"Maybe moving away wasn't the answer to their problems," Sansa said.
"Well, we'll see. I think your brother just wanted to get her away from the other guy. I can't blame him."
"They haven't even been married all that long to have problems already," Sansa said. "Though it did seem like he rushed into it."
"Oh, he did. I know it. He knows it. But you know how your brother is. You can't tell him anything once he's got his mind made up." Catelyn smirked. "Reminds me of someone else I know."
Sansa's mouth quirked up into a lopsided grin. "Yeah. You?"
Her mother laughed and the mood was lightened somewhat though Sansa was still reeling from the news. Talisa had cheated on Robb. They were in therapy.
Now she just honestly felt bad for him while at the same time wondering if she had anything to do with it.
Well, that's quite narcissistic of you isn't it? she thought.
Her mind went back to that long ago phone call from Robb the night before his wedding. She didn't even know why she'd answered the phone considering she knew exactly what the next day was. But she had. He'd been drunk and a bit emotional.
"I just want you to know that I will always love you, Sansa," he told her. "I never stopped, and I never will stop. I know I'm getting married tomorrow…but I still love you."
"Don't say that," she begged him. "You are starting a new life with her. Focus on that."
He'd broken down then, ugly sobs that drowned out her own. "I miss you so damn much, San…"
"It'd be nice if you and your brother could spend some time together," Catelyn said. "Don't tell the others, but you were always his favorite."
Sansa laughed, a laugh somewhere between nervousness and lunacy. "Well, anyway, Willas and I better get home."
As she headed to the living room to get her fiancé she thought that there was no way in hell she was going to spend any time with her brother. Their arrangement long ago had been to keep their distance from each other, and she meant to keep to that.