We looked at each other and laughed. “We never did stuff like this when we were kids,” she said suddenly. “Like sisters on TV, you know?”
“Nothing is like TV. If it were, we’d have hot water and a laugh track. I moved in when you were a junior in high school—you had other stuff going on.” Like, apparently, a lot of boys. A lot.
“You didn’t like me back then,” she commented.
I stared at her. “Are you joking? I worshipped you!”
She shook her head. “You and my mom got along. You were so quiet, studying all the time, she was always praying or going to church. I never had anything in common with either of you.”
“Your mom was just being nice to me because she felt so sorry for me. You were her daughter. Loretta loved you so much. She used to tell me stories about you as a little girl.”
“Really?” She sat up straighter. “She did?”
I nodded. “Hold your foot still! I just painted your arch. She talked about you all the time to me.”
Cassie laid back against the cushion. “You and Nana took care of her when she was sick. I guess it was good practice, huh?”
I stared at her. Tears pooled in my eyes. “Cassie, I’m glad to take care of you. You’re my sister, and I love you.”
Clumsily, she patted my hand. I grabbed her fingers before she could pull them away.
“Hello?” called a disembodied voice from the basement stairs.
“Don’t let him come up here!”
“Coming!” I called, and hopped off the couch.
Jason was standing in the kitchen. “So, that isn’t something that I can fix. There’s no way to get parts for it, and based on its age, it just isn’t worth it.”
That was becoming a repeating refrain in my life.
I put my face in my hands. “Ok. Ok. Let me think.”
“Luckily I have one in my truck.”
“Huh?”
“I have a replacement unit in my truck. It’ll work perfect here.”
I stared at him. “I can’t afford it. No, thank you.”
“Thirty bucks.”
“Huh?” I repeated inanely.
“Thirty bucks for the heater and the install. I better get going putting it in, I have to get home.”
He disappeared out into the rain. “Is he going to fix the water?” Cassie called.
“Hang on.”
I ran out into the driveway. “Jason, there’s no way this could only cost thirty dollars. There’s no way.”
“Did you want to pay me more?”
“No, but I don’t want to cheat you, either.”
“You’re not cheating me. Let me get to work, don’t worry about it.”
