[Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 3] by Girls In Pants

Author:Girls In Pants
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-19T05:00:00+00:00

Tibby had never liked Loretta until Loretta got fired.

The main reason Tibby didn’t like her was because Tibby was too old to be in Loretta’s jurisdiction, and yet Loretta acted like she was Tibby’s babysitter anyway.

And then there was the time Loretta put Tibby’s best cashmere sweater in the dryer and shrank it so small even Katherine couldn’t wear it. Tibby knew it was petty, but she nursed a long grudge.

In spite of all that, Tibby was appalled when her parents let Loretta go. Appalled and guilty.

“It wasn’t her fault.” Tibby defended Loretta to her parents when she heard the news. “If it was anybody’s fault, it was mine for leaving the upstairs window open.”

But her parents stuck by their decision, and Tibby was left feeling horrible for Loretta. In the too many hours she spent in her cluttered room (windows safely shut), Tibby thought a lot about Loretta and missed her.

Tibby had never realized before what an easy spirit Loretta had. She hardly ever took offense at anything. She managed to defuse even the tensest Rollins family episode with her lightness and good humor. She was the master of deflecting and distracting both Nicky and Katherine from whiny behavior. This was something Tibby now sorely missed, as she listened to her mother square off and feud with Nicky day after day, sending him into paroxysms of loud brattiness. Tibby wondered how her mother had learned so little during these years of Loretta’s wise example.

One night Tibby stayed up too late and got overly weepy. She wept bitter tears of sorrow for knowing Loretta didn’t have a job anymore, for knowing it was her fault that Loretta didn’t have a job anymore, and also for never having told Loretta how great she was.

The next morning Tibby found Loretta’s address in her mother’s book. She clipped her hair in the barrettes Loretta had given her two Christmases ago, pulled on her most cheerful yellow shirt, got into her car, and set off to the far reaches of Prince George’s County. She had nothing but a map of the greater Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and a lot of guilt to guide her.

It took her two and a half hours (one and a half spent getting lost), but the look on Loretta’s face when she saw Tibby made it worth it. Even if Tibby spent twenty-four hours getting lost on the way home.

“¡Tibby! ¡M’ija! ¿Cómo estás? ¡Dios te bendiga! ¡Ay, mira que hermosa estás! Cuéntame, ¿cómo te va?” Loretta exploded in Spanish.

Not only did Loretta not appear to harbor any resentment; she hugged Tibby like a long-lost daughter. Loretta’s eyes filled with tears as she planted several kisses on Tibby’s face.

Tibby was still blinking in surprise when Loretta pulled her into the small house and introduced her to various family members as though they knew all about her. Loretta gestured to the pale woman on the couch in her bathrobe. “She no get up. She have”—Loretta pounded her chest in demonstration—“infection.”

That was Loretta’s sister, Tibby realized.

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