The Good Luck Charm(78)

I give him an army salute. “Sir, yes, sir.”

“Get some rest, please.” He lets go of the card. “Drive safely.” Then he removes his head from the window and disappears back inside the hospital.

“Jeez, he’s intense,” I mutter.

“Sure is.” Carmen pulls away from the entrance. “What happened?”

“I think it would be best for me to tell you when we get to my place.”

“This sounds bad.”

“It’s … complicated.”

“Does it have to do with Ethan?”

“No, it has nothing to do with Ethan.” Not directly, anyway. But it may impact how things unfold with him from here on out.

“Can I at least get a hint or something? This is seriously stressing me out, Lilah.”

I drop my head against the headrest and suck in a breath at the pain, quickly leaning forward again. I run my fingers over the lump at the back of my head. It’s practically a goose egg. “Trust me—it’ll be better if we’re not in a moving vehicle when I tell you.”

She sighs but lets it go, for now.

“How do you know Dr. Lovely, anyway?” I ask as she heads toward my house.

“We went to high school together.”

“He’s a few years older than you, though, isn’t he?”

“I was a freshman when he was a junior.” She taps the steering wheel.

“Did you have a crush on him or something?”

Carmen rolls her eyes. “Have you seen that man? He just gets better looking all the time. It’s totally unfair. Every girl in the entire school had a crush on him. It was ridiculous. Anyway, he tutored me in science when he was a senior.” Her face is a little red.

“Want to tell me more about that?”

“There’s nothing to tell. He tutored me and I didn’t fail my science class. All was right with the world.”

I don’t buy it, but then who knows with Carmen? Maybe it was that simple and I’m just reading into things. I close my eyes and try to focus on something other than the throb in my head. A few minutes later Carmen pulls into my driveway and cuts the engine. “You need to spill it, right after you make me a margarita.”

Once we’re in the house, I fix her a drink and stick with water for myself, because alcohol and head injuries aren’t a good mix. I take a seat on the couch beside my sister. “You remember that girl I told you about, the one who shattered her ankle?”

Carmen shrugs. “Sure.”

I can’t tell if she actually remembers or she’s just saying she does—not that it matters. I have to come out and tell her—no sugarcoating. “She’s our half sister.”

She’s quiet for a few very long seconds before she reaches for her purse. “I’m sorry … How hard did you hit your head?”

“I’m serious, Carm. She’s our half sister.”

“Okay. And how do you know this?”

“Because our father picked her up at the hospital this afternoon.”

She blinks several times but doesn’t say anything.

“Carm?”

“You were right not to tell me while I was driving.”

“Can I get you a glass of water?”

“A bottle of tequila might be better.” She exhales a slow breath. “I can’t … This is … I don’t even … ” She shakes her head and rubs her temples. “Did you talk to him?”

“I did.”

“What was he like? Is he still in town?” She looks utterly stunned, much like I was when I first saw him.

“He looked like a much-older version of the dad we knew, I guess. And yes, he’s still in town and he’d like to see you, but I wanted to be the one to tell you. I didn’t think it would be good to surprise you the way I was—one head-injured Smith at a time and all.”

She laughs a little but then grows serious. “What did he even say? Do you think I should see him? God, it’s been twenty years. This is so—”

“Weird?”

“I was going to say fucked up.”

“I think you should do what you think is right for you. He apologized for leaving us, explained why he did, but it doesn’t erase the past, and it doesn’t make it hurt any less that he started a new family and left us all behind like we were nothing.”

Carmen leans back, running her hands over her thighs. “I was what? Nine when he left? I remember things weren’t good right before that happened.”

“Not good how?”

“Things were off. I mean, they were off a lot, but I remember Adam saying shit was about to hit the fan or something. I didn’t really get what it meant, but then a week later Dad up and left, and Adam wasn’t even the least bit surprised. He said he figured it would’ve happened a lot sooner.”

Adam is ten years my senior and the middle child, also a twin. He went to college out of state, and I see him maybe once every two years at best. Carmen is the only sibling I’ve stayed close with. The rest of them scattered as soon as they were old enough.

It’s no wonder Ethan’s family has always felt so much more like mine than my own, because they were the only constants in my life, along with Carmen.

“I don’t know if I want to see him, Lilah. I’m not sure it’s worth digging up all of those skeletons.”