and Dad left us, you know. You ran off before I could
get into that."
"It wasn't important to me then."
"You have what you need for your college
education," she said. "You do intend to go to college,
don't you?"
"Yes," I said. "I do." I told her firmly. "Good. See you tomorrow."
"Okay," I said. I let out a deep breath. "Well?" Mrs. Westington asked as soon as I
walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. "I don't know yet. Mrs. Westington.'
She nodded. thoughtfully. "You know you'll
always have a home here," she said. "No matter what.' "Thank you."
I never imagined that I would be so nervous
about meeting my sister. A part of me desperately
wanted her love and a part of me still feared her. I was
so afraid that when she heard what had happened to
me since I left her, she would just shake her head and,
as she had done so many times in the past, call me a
hopeless case, a loser who would only be a weight
around her ankles. Maybe we were just too unalike to
ever get along. I knew I would have trouble sleeping.
anticipating.
Mrs. Westington had insisted I take Rhona's
room back. She had Lourdes clean it as if someone
with a contagious flu had been sleeping in it. It was
clean enough to be used as a surgical station in a
hospital. I kept saying it was good enough and Mrs.
Westington kept finding something else to wash or
polish. Even Lourdes looked at me as if Mrs.
Westington had gone mad. In the end I appreciated it.
however.