“It’s notthathard.”
“Well, that’s encouraging.”
Jane laughed softly. “I just mean, being nice is easy. Anyone can pretend to be nice. But there’s a difference between being nice and being kind.”
“Which is?”
“Kindness takes effort. It can have rough edges and it can be impolite, but it’s still genuine and good. But if you’re nice…” Jane offered a shrug. “Well, you can be nice to someone and still stab them in the back, right? It just means when you do it, you might have a smile on your face.”
Lizzy stared out over the rooftop, letting the words rattle in her brain until they settled in uncomfortable corners.
“I just don’t get why Will called you now,” Jane said after a minute. “The Tristan thing was so long ago, and Will hasn’t been back out here in weeks.”
Oh God.
“Well… that’s not exactly true,” Lizzy said.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw him a couple of days ago. At Marv’s Lament.”
Jane’s brows pinched together, waiting for Lizzy to continue.
“I would have told you but… Charlie wasn’t with him and…” She was so busy trying to police her words that they came out disjointed and jumbled.
“Then why was he there?” Jane asked.
Lizzy gnawed on her bottom lip before answering. “Because his aunt is helping them sublet the house.”
It seemed to take a moment to sink in. Then Jane turned to look out at the horizon. The sun had fallen behind the neighboring houses, casting her profile in an array of yellows and pinks and grays. “Oh.”
Lizzy opened her mouth to speak, then shut it again. She couldn’t tell Jane the full extent of what Will had said. Jane would blame herself, and Lizzy refused to let that happen.
Another minute passed, then her sister’s voice broke the silence. “I’m never going to see him again, am I?”
Jane sounded so small, so broken, and Lizzy’s heart fell like a deadweight in her chest. “If Charlie really loves you, you will.”
Jane nodded, looking back up at the darkening sky. “I’ve always thought that if you really love someone, nothing can stand in the way of it. You move mountains to make it work. But maybe, sometimes, love isn’t enough. And that’s okay.”
A different kind of ache tightened Lizzy’s chest. She had seen her sister heartbroken before, but this wasn’t heartbreak; it was acquiescence. And she hated it.
“Besides, we always have that mansion with the cats waiting, right?” Jane continued, offering a watery smile.
Lizzy tried to match it. “Right.”
Jane sighed. “In the meantime, how do you feel about Montauk?”
“Is there a vacant mansion you’ve got your eye on in Montauk?”
Jane let herself laugh softly. “No, but I do have a nonrefundable weekend booked at a motel on the beach next month.”
Crap. How had Lizzy forgotten? She had helped Jane plan her weekend with Charlie, even split the motel reservation across their two credit cards. She groaned as her head fell forward.
“Oh, stop,” Jane said. “It could be fun. You can surf; I can catch up on lesson plans. It’ll be the perfect girls’ getaway before we commit to something more permanent. And dilapidated.”
Lizzy laughed, pushing a few errant strands of hair from her face. “I’ll think about it.”
Jane nodded, then rested her head on Lizzy’s shoulder. “Good.”
