“He is. We’ve got it,” he said.
Rowan took Dutton again. Then the kids and her boyfriend walked toward the stairs. “Don’t go anywhere or touch a thing. I’m going to carry this food down for him.”
“I’m going with you,” Sandy said. “I want to sit on the beach also.”
“If you walk out of this house to that beach, I’m locking you out there. You can sleep in the sand for all I care. Don’t even test me.”
“You wouldn’t do that to your niece and nephews,” Sandy said, smirking.
“No, I wouldn’t. But I wouldn’t hesitate to do it to their mother.”
She followed Rowan down with the food, Sandy staying put. Wise decision.
Then she marched upstairs. Her sister was sitting on the couch, her legs crossed, her shoes off, making herself comfortable.
“Stepping up in the world, aren’t you?”
“We are feeding the kids and then you’re leaving. All of you. I’m not doing this. I’m not taking you in. I’m not letting you stay. You’re not using your kids to make me feel guilty over it either.”
“Don’t be such a bitch,” Sandy said. “You’re in this big place and we won’t be long. Family helps each other out. It’s not like I’m asking you for money.”
“Like you’ve done multiple times over the years?”
She’d fallen for it too many times and then stopped. Who knew what her sister did with it? If the kids needed something, she took care of it directly.
Then she found out from her mother that Sandy was using the child support she got on herself.
“You’ve got enough money. You don’t know how hard it is to be a single mother.”
“Then maybe you should stop getting pregnant.”
“I don’t plan on getting pregnant again,” Sandy said, waving her hand.
Saylor stood up and walked to the glass doors, saw Rowan away from the house, but inside the gates. The kids were sitting and eating, Logan and him trying to feed Dutton. The baby probably still drank out of a bottle or needed a Sippy cup and she felt like shit she hadn’t thought of it until now.
“I don’t care what you plan or don’t plan. It doesn’t include me. We’ll put you up in a hotel for one night. Sleep and then drive home tomorrow. If you choose not to it’s on you.”
“You’re going to just abandon the kids?”
“No. I’m doing it to you. You’re the selfish moron that packed up three kids for a road trip with no plan. And thinking I’d be your plan is ridiculous.”
“How would it look if someone found out that my sister and her wealthy boyfriend just let me be broken down in Long Beach and on the street?”
She knew she paled, even though she expected her sister to play this game.
“You’re not broken down. You can drive your car back. If you can’t, I’ll pay for plane tickets, I don’t care. But you’re not stayinghere. If you think spreading false information about me is going to work, you’re wrong. You do not know what Rowan and his family are like.”
“I know. I saw it. I guarantee they’d be willing to pay a bit to keep it quiet.”
She laughed. “You’re wrong. They’d rather spend all that money to bury you or watch you bury yourself than give it to you to avoid you talking. But in this case, I can deal with you myself. I’ll empty every penny from my account to see that you’re the one that comes out smelling worse than Dutton’s diaper. Not me.”
“What do I have to lose?” Sandy said, shrugging.
“Your kids? Do you think any of their fathers would like what you did today? How about leaving Dutton unattended in the car?”
Her sister said nothing to that. Almost as if she was thinking this through more.
She didn’t know if Sandy’s baby daddies cared one way or another, but if the possibility was there she was running with it.
