So... We're Siblings Now?

Claire,

I don't want to go through the greetings and health inquiries in this letter, so I'm not going to. I was hoping to have lunch with you soon. I saw you at the wedding, and I've realized it was time we catch up. I'll be at Sparks Bistro, Friday at 1. I hope to see you there.

Robin Ivanov

Somewhere, Elsie Norton was toasting to herself.

Claire had recieved a letter not two days prior, which was slightly strange, but more unsettling in what was not strange than what was. It had been cryptic, yes, but the most upsetting part of the whole thing had been Robin Ivanov's signature at the bottom. She had read it several times over, asked Elsie to help analyze it (the girl had been surprisingly indifferent to it), and now had it folded in neat little squares. It rested in her purse, and she sat at a booth in Sparks, early as always, wondering why the hell she was there.

The wedding had been weird. Claire had left right after the ceremony and had done her fair share of crying, which she was not proud of. Elsie had held her until Claire had claimed it was all gone, and then she had spent the night alone, quietly choking back little sobs into her pillow. Since then, she had been okay. She was no logner in love with Robin Ivanov, she knew this, because she no longer knew him. It just hurt because now her sister got that opportunity, the sister who had always been so cold and unloving to her. The two people she had always loved but had not been ready to love her back had fallen for each other it seemed.

She would be happy for them if she knew she was allowed to be.

She was hoping Robin was meeting with her to tell her that he loved Avery and she would just have to deal with that. Because she could deal with that. If he wanted to discuss what they used to be at all, she had a feeling she might just run. (Because that was how a responsible adult handled such a situation, right?)

She had ordered an iced tea but had not touched it. She distracted herself by reading over some paperwork, as she was on her lunch break from work, dressed in the pencil skirt, pressed blouse combonation that everyone knew. She was just waiting on her brother-in-law.

Oh, Merlin almighty, that was the most horrid thing she had ever thought.