Steven hesitates. Eventually he says, “Something like that.”
Louisa feels a prick of suspicion. “Why are you being so cagey? What is this, Episode Six of a new podcast calledThe Secret Lives of Podcasters? I just had a terrible lunch with my father and I’m about to lose it. Just tell me some good news.”
“Okay.” Steven clears his throat in the theatrical way nervous people do when they do not actually have anything caught in their throat. “I got it from Aggie,” he says.
Louisa’s heart thumps and she says, “I’m sorry?”
“Igotitfromaggie.”
“Aggie just gave you one hundred and fifty thousand dollars?” She can hear the incredulity—nay, the envy!—in her own voice. Every insecurity Louisa has ever had about Aggie rushes to the surface so fast she’s surprised they don’t collectively get the bends.
Steven sighs. “I was worried you’d be like this about it.”
“Like what? I’m not like anything. I’m just a person standing near a garden.”
“Like this. Funny about Aggie.”
“Funny?”
“Yeah. Funny. But you don’t need to be. First of all, to Aggie the amount of money we need right now is practically spare change.”
“Well that must be lovely,” says Louisa. “She just found it between the cushions of her couch, then? Under the floor mat of her car?”
Steven doesn’t answer that question. “And second of all, it’s not a gift. It’s an investment. Vetted by her lawyers and everything.”
Louisa pictures a team of men and women in pinstripes, sitting around a gleaming conference table, with Aggie at the head. “Does Aggie invest money in all of her ex-boyfriends’ business ventures?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. No. I guess not.”
“I don’t know, Louisa. I doubt it. I don’t think she has a lot of ex-boyfriends actually... she can be difficult, in a long-term relationship. Chaotic.”
“Shocker.”
Steven clears his throat and Louisa can tell he’s trying to get her off the call. “So, anyway, I just wanted to let you know. That that doesn’t have to be a thing between us anymore. It’s sorted out. What was the thing you wanted to tell me?”
“I don’t feel like talking about it.”
“Louisa! No, come on. Tell me.”
“Maybe next time. I’m tired, all of a sudden. I’ll call you in a day or two.”
“Okay. But super quick, before you go. There’s one more part to the story.”
Louisa chews her lip and bends down to examine an earthworm in the garden. The simplest animals with brains, earthworms. Impossible to overthink anything if you’re an earthworm. “Is it about Aggie?”
“Yes. Super quick—”
“Sorry, Steven. I can’t. I can’t take anything else in right now. I’m full to the brim. I have to go, okay?”
She presses the disconnect button, and the urge seizes her to hurl her phone into the water—but obviously that would create more problems than it would solve. The closest Apple store is inPortland. So she settles for making a loud, aggravated noise in the direction of the harbor.
“Everything okay?”
She jumps. It’s Danny, standing behind her with a Weedwhacker. Geez, it seems like this guy isliterally everywhere!
“Fine,” she says. “All good, thanks for asking.” This family is already messy enough. No need to get the yard guy involved.
