He smiles. “I’m starting to see that as a benefit. Easier to keep track of you.”
“You better get going. It’s getting late.”
He leaves, and I wait to hear his shoes going up the stairs. When I hear his bedroom door close, I race to his office and over to his desk. I open the top drawer and see a stack of hundred-dollar bills. I take five, with a plan to replace them before he gets home on Sunday. I race back to my room and find a small box, stuff the money in it, then wrap it in printer paper, which is all I have for gift wrap.
Ten minutes later, Brock is back downstairs, a brown leather travel bag slung over his shoulder.
“I think I got everything,” he says, finding me in the kitchen. “If you need meals made this weekend, send Ana a text. She has tomorrow off but she’ll come over if you need her.”
He makes her work on her day off? Just to cook? Or to fulfill his sexual needs? I wonder what their arrangement is and when it started. And how much he pays her to be “on call” to meet his needs.
“Oh. Before you go.” I walk up to him. “Could you give this to Liv?” I hand him the wrapped box.
“What’s this?”
“Just a little gift. She really liked these earrings I showed her that night we had dinner. I decided to wrap them up and give them to her.”
He smiles. “That was nice of you.”
“It’s nothing big. I got the earrings at a little shop in Brooklyn. They were cheap and too dangly for me. I’d rather give them to someone who will wear them.”
“I’ve never seen Livia wear dangly earrings. She usually doesn’t even wear earrings.”
“She might now. It’s a new school year. She might be trying a new look. Just give them to her. If she decides she doesn’t want them, she can throw them out. I don’t need them back.”
He slips the box into his pocket. “I’ll call you tomorrow and let you know my plans. I assume I’ll stay through Sunday unless Morgan is called away for work. Could you tell the boys?”
“Sure. I probably won’t see them tonight, but I’ll text them and let them know.”
When he finally leaves, I call up Liv.
“Now what?” she answers.
“He just left. The money is in an earring box. I wrapped it so he wouldn’t open it. Pretend you like the earrings, or just don’t act like you hate them. Can you do that?”
“Yeah. Whatever. Five hundred, right?”
“Yes, in cash.”
“Nice doing business with you, sis.”
“Sis?”
“That’s what you’ll be if my mom is stupid enough to marry Brock.”
“I’d be your cousin. I’m his niece.”
“That’s right. I keep forgetting your parents are dead.”
“My mom is, not my dad. My dad’s in rehab somewhere. Liv, I have to go. Thanks again for helping me.”
“Anytime. But next time it’ll cost you more.”
“Why?”
“Inflation. And because you lied. I hate liars. I do it myself, but I don’t put up with people doing it to me.”
“I wasn’t lying.”
