“I have nowhere else to go.”
“You have nowhere else to go? Why don’t you try Georgia? Isn’
t that where you’re from?”
I looked away, not wanting to enrage her further. She blamed me for leaving her here with our father. She blamed me for leaving Montauk at all. It didn’t seem like a good moment to remind her that she was the one who had chosen to stay. It didn’t seem there was ever a good moment for that.
“Or, here’s an idea. Hang out in your gorgeous Manhattan loft. Order takeout until things calm down.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Danny sold the apartment right after everything happened . . .”
“So . . . when he found out you were sleeping with someone else?” She shook her head, laughing a little. “He sold the place out from under you? Well, not the nicest thing to do. Can’t say you didn’t deserve it.”
She picked up her phone and started texting. I was hoping it wasn’t the police. I couldn’t handle another five-hundred-dollar no-visitor fee.
“I don’t particularly care that you’re guilty of plagiarism on a major scale. Or that you deceived thousands of true fans who believed in you. And I’ve always liked Danny, but that’s really your business too. Just to be clear, I’m not helping because you’re a lousy fucking sister. And you were long before you did anything wrong to any of those people.”
She stopped texting, returned to pulling the peanut butter from her hair.
“I don’t hear from you until you need something.”
“That’s not true, Rain.”
“A card on my kid’s birthday isn’t hearing from you.”
“It’s not like my phone has been ringing off the hook either.”
“And if it had been?” she said. “What would’ve you done? Swooped in and helped out with the house?”
I looked around her shitty guesthouse and tried not to think about what it must have been like when she and Sammy ended up here.
“I don’t even know why I’m getting into all this. I don’t have the time. Sammy! We’re leaving.”
“She goes with you to work?”
“Tonight she does.”
I touched her arm. “Why didn’t you tell me you had to sell the house?”
She moved her arm away, as though my touch actually stung her. “In our many lengthy conversations?”
“Wasn’t there another option? I would’ve helped. Or, if you didn’t want my help, you could have rented it out, made a fortune doing that.”
“Thank you for the brilliant financial advice! That didn’t occur to me.”
“I’m not saying . . .”
“I had to sell the house, okay? The maintenance was too much. And I needed the money for Sammy’s education.”
I looked at her, confused. Great public school was one of the few advantages of being in the Hamptons year-round.
“What do you mean?” I said, concerned. “Does she have learning issues?”
She shook her head, more offended that I might actually have the nerve to care than about anything else I’d done. “Why are we even discussing this? You want your share of the house?”