What would Armie say? Would he put it around town that she’d abused his daughter? Would he trash her reputation to get her to leave? She would have said no, but then, she hadn’t realized how far he would go to protect Noelle and himself. He’d found a place after trauma where he was comfortable and life seemed okay, and she was threatening that.

“No, you didn’t. What happened?” Lisa’s shrewd eyes pinned her. “I won’t go away until you tell me. You know how tenacious I can be. It’s all you’ll hear for the next few weeks. ‘What’s wrong, Lila? How can I help, Lila?’” She touched her chest and gave her a shocked expression. “‘Oh my, did I do something wrong, Lila?’ Now that is a manipulation because I know damn well I didn’t do anything wrong, but it’s going to annoy you so I’ll go there.”

This was what sisters did. They poked and prodded and didn’t care about personal boundaries when they meant well. This was what she’d tried to do with Noelle because she knew it was what any of her siblings would have done for her.

Armie was wrong. She might not have had two loving parents, but she’d had Will and Laurel and Lisa. They’d loved and supported each other. They’d taught each other what it meant to be a family.

“We had a fight. He broke up with me.” She petted Peanut, taking comfort from his closeness.

Lisa gasped. “What did you do?”

“Why do you think I did anything at all?”

“Because I’ve known you my whole life. You can be a bitch.”

She could, but this time she’d been a bitch for all the right reasons. “I pushed Noelle at PT. I tried to get her up and walking and I said some nasty things about it being easy to stay in that chair. I think I was close to getting her mad enough that she would have done it just to throw it back in my face.”

Lisa sighed. “Like you did when I was flunking physics. I remember that well. You and Will thoroughly pissed me off enough that nothing was going to stop me from passing that class and showing you two up. You know Laurel did the same thing and you simply helped her. She got a C and you were happy with that. I got an A-minus and all you did was pat me on the back and tell me you knew I could do it.”