I pull away and look at Skye, who is trying to rein her younger sister in, and agree, “Air sounds good.”
“K,” she motions with her chin for me to follow her.
We walk out a side door of the ballroom onto a big marble patio that wraps around this part of the country club. It’s dark now and there are pretty lit trees around, but I bet the view at sunset of the greens is stunning. There are heaters above us but it’s not all that cold out. One good thing about middle America, no North East winter weather.
“So, it’s contractual. Right?” She gets right to it.
“Huh?” I screech. “N-no, I, we—”
“Comeon,Janie,” she crosses her arms and pops a hip, “Please. I’m your best friend.”
I cross my arms right back, “Oh, are you?”
“What?” She says the word like she was just punched in the gut.
“Be so for real right now, we are not friends anymore.”
“Because you bailed on me! You freaking ghosted me, saying no to everything like we do withother peoplebut never with each other!”
“I bailed onyou?”
“Yes!”
“Skye, my brother was in trouble with the mob. The! Mob! Like actual organized crime in New York. I was trying to save him from prison or getting stabbed or worse, and you were like,” I twist my face and my voice, “Classic Janie always bailing everyone out.”
“It was classic! I’m just waiting for you to admit how you’re helping Ben with your sham marriage!” She points back toward the party.
“How I’m helping Ben?I’mhelpinghim?Fine,” I stalk toward her and lower my voice, “Yes, okay? Yes, it’s contractual. I needed the money so badly I signed on the line,” she rears back, like she’s a little surprised to be right. “Yup. I moved back to Juniper Falls, did you know that? No, you didn’t. I moved Gran into memory care, did you know that? No, you didn’t! And right after I moved her to the best care facility in the county, my brother didn’t call, no, he couldn’t call because his mouth was freaking duct-taped, Skye!”
“W-wha—”
“Yeah! So then I’m on the phone with some Mr. Bonetti who says my brother isfive hundred thousand dollarsin the hole and if I don’t pay half immediately, they’ll have totake careof it.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” she says, holding up both hands. “Bonetti like the diamonds?”
“Hell if I know! When I met them for coffee it was two good looking men who seemed so normal. Just like Lori’s freakingbooks! Just two hot guys in suits talking about it like he was going to let me finance a damn car payment or something.”
“You met with them!?”
“What else was I supposed to do?! Let themoffmy brother?”
She shakes her head, “This can’t be real. That doesn’t happen in real life.”
“You are so oblivious, you know that? This,” I gesture around, “Is notreal life.Not for most people. People are barely making it, barely scraping by. People have vices, addictions. People are desperate for hope. They gamble and sometimes they lose. I’m not saying these guys would have actually killed him but they could have made him an indentured employee, trafficked him to work for them overseas. They made it clear I could’ve never seen or heard from my brother again.”
“I—”
She tries but I keep going, “Most people are in soul-sucking, crippling debt, so excuse us if we don’t want to go to your VIP museum experience with your five-course wine-tasting party that costs hundreds of dollars a plate!”
“Listen, I was being honored as a featured artist that night and I needed you there! I would’ve paid for you, Janie, hell, I would’ve paid Jack’s debt if I’d known, why didn’t you say something? Anything?”
“Because this is your life! It was always your life, since we met. And it’s not your fault, I get that, your family is successful, your grandpa started it in a garage, I get it, like, congrats to you guys and all, but from the beginning, since the day we met, you and I were different. Theo and I were already in debt.”
“You were?”
I chuckle a bitter laugh and my eyes sting as I go on, “I knew that would surprise you. And it’s embarrassing, I’ll admit it, I was embarrassed. The queen of spreadsheets can’t manage hercredit cards? A numbers wiz living so far in the red she couldn’t eat or sleep?”
“Janie...”
