Chapter 4

When Bette made it home that night, it was going on three a.m. Her limbs burned and a headache lingered from the music, but the night had been a good one.

She’d had fun at the bar, playing darts with Alice and Tina, and now she had Thursday to look forward to. How could she not smile at that? It wasn’t a date, but it still made her stomach tense pleasantly, and well, nothing had done that in quite a while.

The stairs into her building, however, weren’t so inviting. She stared up at them with a combination of excitement to see her sister and fear at not knowing when the other shoe would drop. Bette hadn’t spent time in the same place with Kit in a long while by design, in fact.

She took a deep breath. It was now or never. Regardless of whether she wanted Kit at her place, Bette knew she’d done the right thing by allowing her to stay. She’d lent a helping hand, which she’d hope her sister would do if their roles were reversed.

The apartment was quiet when she entered, so she made sure not to shut the door too loudly in case Kit was asleep on the couch. A lonely light above the kitchen sink greeted her, but the rest of the place was dark and empty, including said couch. She shrugged out of her cargo jacket, taking note of the pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Seemed her steak had been sacrificed after all. A newspaper lay in sloppy sections all over her small kitchen table, and drinking glasses stood empty in various spots around the room. Her place wasn’t big, but she took pride in keeping it somewhat neat and put together. She swallowed the mild annoyance and focused on catching some much-needed rest. It was possible Kit was just out enjoying her evening and would return at some point, so she’d keep an ear open for the door.

As Bette made her way into her bedroom, the shock of black hair across her pillow caused her to pull up short. Her sister was sound asleep, snoring even. In her bed.

”Damn it, Kit,” she breathed, because all she wanted in the world was to curl up under those covers and let the exhaustion fall off her. Instead, she grabbed the spare blanket from her closet and dragged it to the couch, but not before placing the covers over Kit’s exposed shoulder because, well, there was a chill in the air.