Antonia's Choice Read Free

approximately a thousand times.
Her sensitivity is what makes her such a beautiful person.
    I loved my sister because…she was my sister. But in my view, Bobbi had always been a wimp. Her neediness was what made her such a pain to be around for more than thirty minutes. Besides, she didn’t really need me when she’d had Mama fawning over her all her life.
    I could feel my mother giving me a pointed look. “I think it helped that Bobbi is a stay-at-home mom.”
    â€œIt might help Sid,” I said, “but I don’t think it helps Bobbi. Personally, I think it would do her good to get her focus off the kids and him for at least a couple of hours a day.”
    My mother chewed on that for a second before she said, “Bobbi’s services as a babysitter certainly came in handy for you during those last months before you left Richmond.”
    â€œI didn’t leave Ben there because I needed a babysitter,” I said tightly. “Ben loves Emil. They’re more like twins than Emil and Techla are. Ben was having a rough time, and I thought it was good for him to be with his cousin.”
    â€œNo need to get defensive,” Mama said. “I was just pointing out that—”
    â€œSo what’s Sid doing now?” I said. I didn’t really care what my brother-in-law did. He’d never been my favorite human being; he just came in handy at the moment.
    â€œSomething with computers,” Mom said.
    â€œI thought he lost his shirt in that dot-com thing he was involved in.”
    â€œThis is different—he’s doing something with websites, and it’s obviously very successful.”
    â€œYa think?” Stephanie said. “They just added a whole studio onto their house.”
    â€œThat place was four thousand square feet to begin with.”
    Stephanie gave one of her signature snorts. “You don’t exactly live in a shack yourself.”
    â€œMy shack’s rented,” I said. “And I can only afford that because it belongs to a client.”
    â€œThere’s nothing wrong with the house you and Chris
own
in Richmond, either,” Mama said. “I drive by it every now and then. Chris is keeping the lawn up.”
    I had never been so glad to see the Nashville terminal, or more grateful for the overzealous security people who blew their whistles if a driver left his car stopped at the curb for more than seven seconds.
    â€œI would come in with you,” I said, flipping the trunk release and whipping open my door, “but I really have to get to work.”
    â€œNot a problem,” Stephanie said. She caught up with me at the trunk and planted a kiss on my cheek.
    I felt a wave of longing. I really wanted her to stay.
    My mother pulled me into her arms then, and I felt just as overwhelming a wave—of guilt. She really cared. I knew that. And I could be such a witch in the face of it.
    Spine feeling like a piece of barbed wire, I hugged her back and whispered that I loved her. Mama’s face looked pained as the guard blew insistently on his whistle and she pulled away.
    â€œI love you, too,” she said. “And I just want you to be happy. I know that if you would just—”
    â€œCome on, Mama, before this poor man blows a gasket,” Stephanie said. “Love you, Sis.”
    I blew them both a kiss and slid back into the front seat, cupping myself in leather. It was suddenly too quiet in the car. All the stuff Mama had just opened up about Chris and about Ben filled up the air space.
    â€œI’m not going there,” I said out loud. “Work. Think about work.”
    Not hard to do. I had the meeting with Jeffrey first thing that I needed to concentrate on.
    As I waited behind a line of cars, I took a quick glance in the rearview mirror again to make sure I had the right look for the meeting. Aside from the tousled hair, the result of having done a whole day’s work already, I was