“My sister.”
“Ah.”
A sister. She knew he had a brother-in-law but hadn’t worked out whether that man was Helen’s brother or his sister’s husband. Whit had seemed like an island to her, but of course he had a family before Annie and Helen.
“Are you close?”
He nodded. “Yeah. But she calls a lot more since Helen died. She worries.”
Merritt shrugged and nodded, just barely managing to stop herself from saying that her mother had done that when she and Graydon broke up. It was not the same thing.
“Is it just the two of you?”
“My parents, but they’re divorced. And then Evie lives in New York with her husband, Édouard Marchand. He’s French Canadian, a former pro hockey player turned lawyer. We have him to thank for our contract. Extremely fashionable and a bit of a jock. I love him.”
Merritt laughed.
“What about you?”
She shrugged. “Just me and my mom now.”
Whit nodded. “Helen loved your mom. I mean, I love your mom, too, but Helen really loved her. And Annie does, too.”
“That’s sweet,” Merritt said and, feeling immediately that thewords sounded dismissive, added, “She had nice things to say about you and Helen and Annie, too.”
Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d just revealed, and though she refused to even glance Whit’s way, she was sure he had looked at her then.You’ve been talking about me, his energy seemed to say.
“When I told her about the job,” Merritt added, after far too long a delay. “I told her about the job, is that okay?”
Now he definitely looked at her. “Your mom? Of course you can tell yourmom. I think I trust her more than Diana.”
“Don’t bring up Diana anymore, please.”
Whit laughed.
“But if your mom tells anyone, it’s curtains for her.”
Merritt sensed a tiny edge of seriousness there, but she smiled at the joke.
“Curtains? Are you a 1920s mobster? Anyway, Kathleen Pryor is a locked box, and you are not allowed to threaten her.”
“If she tells anyone, she’s sleeping with the fishes.”
“Please, stop, you’re making it worse.”
“She tells anyone... we’re going to the mattresses,” he said.
“Leave the gun,” she said in a bad Italian accent, “take the cannoli.”
He gave her a look.
“What? I’ve seenThe Godfather.” She smirked. “I definitely don’t just know those lines fromYou’ve Got Mail.”
He grinned. “I love that movie.”
“Now you’re mocking me.”
“No,” he said, actually pointing a finger at her. “I never joke about Nora Ephron.”
