Chương 4
I picked at a loose thread in the bedsheet.
“You could have texted me before I got on the plane.”
“I didn’t know you were definitely coming.”
“You knew my flight number.”
Silence.
That had slipped out before I meant to use it.
Three days earlier, Brooke had asked when I landed because she wanted to know whether I could bring a specific bottle of perfume from duty-free.
I had bought it.
It was still in my suitcase.
“Athena, I don’t want to fight.”
“Then don’t.”
“Mom thought Garrett’s family might ask questions.”
“About what?”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
I sat up.
“What questions?”
Brooke spoke quickly now.
“It’s not a big deal.”
“What questions?”
“Mom may have told them some stuff when they first met.”
“Brooke.”
“She said you weren’t really involved with the family anymore.”
I stared at the dark television across the room.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“She said you moved away because there had been problems.”
My fingers stopped moving.
“What problems?”
“I don’t know, Athena.”
Her voice had gone defensive.
“She just made it sound like you left after some falling-out and we didn’t really have contact.”
“We talk every week.”
“I know.”
“I paid your wedding deposits.”
“I know.”
“You visited me in London two years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you let her tell them that?”
Brooke did not answer.
The music behind her became suddenly louder, then muffled again as though she had moved into another room.
When she finally spoke, she sounded younger.
“It was easier.”
There it was.
Not hatred.
Not confusion.
Convenience.
I rubbed my forehead.
“For who?”
“Everybody.”
I almost said something cruel.
A dozen sentences came to me, sharp and satisfying.
I swallowed them.
“Go back to your reception.”
“Athena, wait.”
“I’m tired.”
“Are you going to tell Garrett?”
That stopped me.
“Tell him what?”
“That Mom lied.”
The question landed with enough weight that I put both feet on the floor.
“Does Garrett not know I’m your sister?”
“He knows I have a sister.”
I frowned.
“Then what are you talking about?”
“He thinks we’re estranged.”
I said nothing.
Brooke rushed to fill it.
“Mom told his parents you basically cut us off after you moved to London.”
“And Garrett believes that?”
“I never corrected it.”
My stomach turned.
“That’s why I wasn’t invited.”
“It got complicated.”
“No, Brooke.”
I stood and began walking without knowing where I was going.
The hotel room gave me six strides before I had to turn around.
“You had months to say, ‘Actually, Athena and I talk all the time.’”
“You don’t understand Garrett’s parents.”
“I met his mother for thirty seconds, and she invited me inside.”
Brooke stopped speaking.
I could hear her breathing.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
“What did Mom say?”
“That I was a cousin.”
“Oh.”
That tiny sound infuriated me more than denial would have.
“Oh?”
“I didn’t know she was going to say that.”
“But you knew she was going to keep me out.”
“I knew she didn’t want you there.”
“And you were fine with that.”
“I was trying to keep the peace.”
I laughed once.
“With whom?”
“Athena, please.”
“No, tell me.”
“She thinks Garrett’s family judges us.”
“Maybe they do.”
“They have money.”
“So?”
“So you don’t live here.”
Neither of us spoke after that.
It was such a strange answer that for a moment I wondered if I had misunderstood.
“What does London have to do with anything?”
“You make Mom feel like she has to explain things.”
“Explain what?”
“Our family.”
I looked at my reflection in the window.
The room behind me floated over the black glass, making me look transparent.
Brooke’s next words came slowly.
“She told them you left because you thought you were better than us.”
I sat down again.
That one hurt because it was familiar.
My mother had accused me of arrogance the first time I refused to lend Dad money without seeing the bills.
She used the same word when I took a job overseas.
She had cried at the airport and then told relatives I was chasing status.
For years I assumed those complaints stayed inside our family.
Apparently Diane had built an entire public version of me out of them.
“And you let Garrett marry you believing I abandoned all of you.”
Brooke whispered, “It wasn’t important.”
“It was important enough to keep me out of your wedding.”
She started crying.
Not loudly.
Just an uneven breath, then another.
Years ago, that sound would have undone me immediately.
I would have apologized for making her cry even if she had set my house on fire.
This time I waited.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
I wanted to believe her.
I even wanted to make it easy for her.
That frightened me more than anything.
“What are you sorry for?”
She did not answer.
“Athena.”
“What?”
“Can we talk tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
The relief in her voice came so fast it told me she had mistaken postponement for forgiveness.
“Okay.”
“Brooke?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t tell Mom about this conversation.”
Silence.
“Why?”
“I’m asking you not to.”
“She’ll know something’s wrong.”
“Something is wrong.”
Brooke sniffed.
“I have to go.”
“Congratulations.”
The word felt strange in my mouth, but I meant it more than I expected.
Her marriage was not responsible for what our family had done.
“Thanks.”
She hung up.
I stayed awake until almost three.
At some point I opened the wedding speech from the glove compartment copy I had saved on my laptop.
I deleted nothing.
I only closed the file.
The next morning, I woke to eleven missed calls.
Six were from my mother.
Two were from my father.
One was from Brooke.
Two were numbers I did not recognize.
May you like
There was also an email from Meadow Creek’s accounting office confirming that future charges required my written approval.
I brushed my teeth, made coffee from the little machine beside the television, and stood barefoot at the window while it brewed.
