Passion Ignited. Kayla Perrin

here to help alleviate the stress.

      “Have you spoken to Grace?” Gabrielle asked.

      “She says she can’t get away,” Gina said, answering the question Gabrielle hadn’t even asked.

      Gabrielle gritted her teeth. Her mother was always ready with excuses for Grace. Grace could never get away. Not unless it was something she wanted to do.

      “Is she working?” Gabrielle asked.

      “Not right now.”

      “So it would be perfect timing for her to come here and spend some time with you and Daddy,” Gabrielle pointed out.

      “I’m sure she’s going to come here as soon as she can. She loves your father.”

      This wasn’t about Grace not loving her father. This was about Grace being selfish. She’d been raised as a spoiled kid, and had always felt that the world revolved around her. Now her father had had a life-threatening heart attack and she didn’t even have the decency to come see him? What if he had a second heart attack and died?

      Gabrielle prayed that didn’t happen, but there were no guarantees in life. And with her father determined to eat a diet that would kill him... You just never knew.

      “It’s not like we haven’t heard from her,” Gina said. “She’s called, spoken to your father.”

      “Isn’t that nice?” Gabrielle said sarcastically. “She should get on a plane and come down here. Portland isn’t on the other side of the world.”

      “Don’t be so hard on your sister,” Gina said.

      “You always defend her, Mom,” Gabrielle said, exasperated. “But she’s never here when we need her.”

      Gabrielle refrained from pointing out that her parents had always been there when Grace needed them. Grace had had one financial disaster after another in her life, and had always called her parents when she needed help picking up the pieces. While Gabrielle had adopted her parents’ work ethic, her sister had not. Whenever she had money, she spent it carelessly. She liked to party, and even do the occasional recreational drug.

      Though maybe it was more than occasional. That would certainly explain why she could never hold down a steady job.

      “She got fired from her last job,” Gina said.

      “So she has no money,” Gabrielle said. Of course, she added silently. Her sister could never keep a job. It wasn’t the first time she’d been fired. And it wouldn’t be the last. Grace liked to stay up late, and sleep in late. Which only proved her to be unreliable. Employers wanted to know that you would get up in the morning and go to work consistently.

      But when you had Mommy and Daddy bailing you out all the time...

      Gabrielle knew this wasn’t the time to get into Grace’s situation with her mother. So all Gabrielle said was, “Well, hopefully she finds another job and gets herself down here to see Dad.”

      “Will you go and pick up the groceries for me?” Gina asked.

      Gabrielle put an arm around her mother. “Of course.”

      This was so hard on her mother, and she could see it in her eyes. If only Grace would come back home to help her parents out and ease the stress on their mother.

      As Gabrielle descended the stairs with her mother, she tried to push Grace out of her mind. It hurt thinking about her sister. So many disappointments... She and her sister were not even on speaking terms anymore.

      Grace had stopped talking to her because Gabrielle had refused to give her more money. The first few times Grace had called her in crisis, Gabrielle had lent her money. And when she hadn’t gotten it back, she’d been okay with it. In her heart, she wanted to believe the best about her sister. Grace’s hard-luck stories were always compelling. This or that bad thing had happened to her. Eventually, it became clear to Gabrielle that Grace had been making excuses.

      She had a safety net. And it was the family.

      So when Gabrielle had told her she would not give her any more money the last time she had called, Grace had been livid. She hadn’t spoken to her since. Not truly spoken to her anyway. Gabrielle had seen her at the occasional family get-together, and Grace had always been distant and cold.

      “Sweetheart?”

      Her mother’s voice pulled Gabrielle from her thoughts. “Yes?”

      “This is a list I made. And here’s some money.” She stuffed several bills into Gabrielle’s palm.

      “I don’t need the money,” Gabrielle said. “I can certainly buy my parents some groceries.”

      “I don’t know what I would do without you,” Gina said and smiled.

      “And I don’t know what I would do without you and Daddy,” Gabrielle said.

      It was why she was determined to see the arsonist caught.

      Because only then might some normality return to her family.