Saving Jasper: Unbroken | ✓ [COMPLETE]

Chapter 2

Stunned, I stared at the pretty woman. No wonder she had looked so familiar, she was Jasper’s biological sister. Swallowing, I floundered for words and looked at her again, reassuring myself that I wasn’t dreaming.

“How did you find me?” I asked breathlessly, stepping back a bit. She shrugged her narrow shoulders, still smiling faintly.

“I found this,” she told me, reaching deeper into her pocket. She pulled out a damp, wrinkled newspaper clipping and dangled it before me. I took it and brought it closer to my face. I squinted at it beneath the porch light, shivering slightly as a cool blast of wind rustled by. I scanned the article, which went no deeper than my first and last name, stating my appearance at Nora Helson’s trial, six years ago. So much time has passed since she was proved guilty, that I had almost forgotten her existence was a real thing.

Reading the article now was a blunt reminder. I lowered the paper and looked at Juliet, still a little stunned that she was standing here, on my porch.

“This is old,” I started, waving the small, square paper back and forth.

“I know,” she said airily. “I like old things. Do you mind if I step inside? It looks as if the sky is going to sob.” She motioned towards my feet and I quickly stepped back, pulling the door open wider. She walked over the threshold, shrugging her coat off as she did so. I shut the door behind her and we made a trade off. She took the paper back and I took her coat, hanging it up in the closet.

“Would you like something to drink?” I asked awkwardly, leading her into the kitchen. Breezing past me, she tapped a slim finger against her prominent chin as she thought for a moment. Reaching out, she grasped the back of one of my three kitchen chairs, pulled it out, and sat herself down. She crossed her right leg over the left, and kicked her heeled-foot back and forth. My opened bottle of wine seemed to have caught her attention, and she nodded her head towards it.

“I haven’t had much to drink in a while.” Nodding, I went over and reached up into the cabinet, retrieving a wineglass. I poured it a quarter of the way full, another one for myself, and joined Juliet at the table. As I handed her the glass, I saw that she had blood-red acrylic nails. She tapped them gently against the unblemished glass, taking a dainty sip.

“I don’t drink much,” I admitted, looking guiltily at the green, olive-colored glass bottle. The only time I had ever really drank alcohol substances was the night of my twenty-first birthday. It was, sadly, hard to believe that night was three years ago. I would never admit it, but there were times I didn’t feel like the twenty-four-year-old woman I was. Perhaps that was a good thing, though. How did that saying go? The younger you feel, the younger you look? I didn’t wish to be eighteen again, but I didn’t wish to be entirely on my own.

The books were certainly right, growing up was not for the weak-minded. Age could really come back and bite you in the ass.

“I don’t drink at all, really,” Juliet said, running the tip of her finger around the glass’ rim. She tipped the glass back again, swallowing the last of her wine.

I stared at her empty glass, “At all?”

She blinked her large, owl-like eyes back at me, “Oh, Charlotte, do you think I meant that literally? Of course I did.” I frowned in confusion, and simply looked at her.

“Can I ask why you’re here?” I mumbled, suddenly feeling very shy. To say the least, this woman was very intriguing. She wasn’t intimidating, but I could feel the small knots of tension in my lower back, at her presence.

“Well, I have not seen my brother for twenty-four years, you’d think one would want to meet her own flesh and blood. You have, after all, been keeping him from me all these years.”