Between Sisters

by Kristin Hannah

Her past wasn’t a collection of memories to be worked through; it was like an oversize Samsonite with a bum wheel. Meghann had learned that a long time ago. All she could do was drag it along behind her.

For years, Claire had longed to be friends as well as sisters, but Meghann didn’t want that, and Meghann always got her way.

They were what Meghann wanted them to be: polite strangers who shared a blood type and an ugly childhood.

The bedrock lesson of her life was that love didn’t last. It was better to be lonely and strong than heartbroken and weak.

That was why Meghann gravitated toward younger men. They still believed in themselves and the world. They hadn’t yet learned how life really worked, how dreams were slowly strangled and right and wrong became abstract ideas instead of goalposts for all to see. Those truths usually hit around thirty-five, when you realized that your life was not what you’d wanted.