Shayna's mother and her little sister arrived in town to spend a few days with her. After taking the one minute tour her sister flopped on the couch,
"So, this is a heck of a lot smaller than Nick's place. You need to get back with him." Their mother lightly slapped her on the arm,
"Carrie that's not funny. That is no reason to be with a man." Carrie sighed,
"Yeah, I know mom. Spare me the women's movement speech." Shayna looked at her mom and her sister, aside from a few aunts, an uncle and a lot of cousins she never saw they were all she really had. Their father ran out on them when she was eight and Carrie was one. She never felt she had all the anxiety and emotional issues little girls supposedly had when their father was absent. As for Carrie, growing up without a father was all she knew, what you don't know you can't miss right? They watched their mother work hard, doing without so they could have all their lives and Shayna didn't forget that when she graduated from college. Living with Nick enabled her to send a lot more money home than she did before she met him. Now that she and Nick were no longer together she still sent more money than she did before but not what she sent when she was with Nick. Her mother always appreciated it and learned to not argue and simply accept the money.
"So, what do you guys want to do?" Carrie popped her gum,
"Hey, this is your world you tell us." Shayna looked at her sister and shook her head with a smile hoping she wasn't the same when she was sixteen,
"Well tonight we can take it easy. Go out to dinner and rent a couple of movies. Then tomorrow we'll figure something out."
They sat in the restaurant, looking out at the water from their lake view when Carrie asked the question she had never got a real answer to,
"So come on Shay, why did you and Nick break up?" Their mother shook her head and scowled,
"Carolyn that's none of your business if Shayna doesn't want -" Shayna smiled and shook her head,
"It just wasn't working anymore." Carrie frowned,
"One day it was working the next it wasn't? That's crazy Shay, what was it? You found out about the other girls?" Shayna dropped her fork with a loud clang and looked over at her sister,
"What?" Their mother was obviously uncomfortable and wanted to change the subject not only for Shayna but for her own sake,
"Girls, let's just enjoy dinner ok?" Shayna knew, in her heart she knew. Nick was weak, always had been probably always will be. He loved women and sometimes she figured he couldn't comprehend saying no to a perfectly willing woman,
"Carrie...just...you don't know what you're talking about." Carrie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms,
"The stories are always on the internet about people seeing him with girls. Do you know what it's like to have your friends ask you are the rumors true? To see people talking on the internet about how stupid or blind your sister is and not be able to defend you?" Shayna bit her lip as her eyes began to water, the pain wasn't so much from hearing about Nick as it was for feeling stupid and used and people thinking she was stupid and being used. Shayna couldn't sit there any longer and placed her credit card on the table and stood up,
"I'll be in the car."
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Full Circle
Chapter 61