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“We arrested him, Vivi,” Al said “Murder You’d best find him a lawyer”

Aurora swore beneath her breath “Great time to piss off Winona”

On the way ho coone sluotten laid, too Or: He doesn’t love you Why can’t you get that through your head? Oh, wait I know the answer: you’re blond Or: If that’s love, I’d rather have the swine flu

At her house, she yanked the door open and went inside The Christlas fir in the corner, the reindeer and sleigh on the coffee table, the ridiculously hopefulfrom the archway between rooms She wrenched the mistletoe down and shoved it in the trash can, and then sat down in herseat, staring out at the rain falling on the bare trees Froh town; they were probably doing so home from church, as if this were a normal winter day

But it wasn’t norain

With a sigh, she went into the kitchen and found a quart of ice crea it back to the sunroo moment, she felt her resolve harden: she would not let Dallas Raintree destroy this family Vivi Ann’s passion for him had already cost them all too much And now there was the Grey na that they’d been fools to let him into their home

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but it was long enough that the weather changed The rain stopped and a hesitant sun peeked through the bank of gray clouds

She heard a knock at the door, but didn’t answer There was no one she wanted to talk to right now

A moment later, Vivi Ann walked into the sunrooes in her sister: the panic lurking at the edges of her ether of her hands

“You caught ”

“You didn’t answer, so I came in”

“I didn’t want to see anyone I especially didn’t want to see you”

Vivi Ann moved into the room, took a seat opposite her

“I’ the old nickname as a kind of shorthand reht and said things they didn’t mean, but they were sisters In the end, what mattered were not the breaks in the chain, but the links

Winona took another bite “How do you think Moave us those nicknames?”