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“Easier said than done.”
He sighed. “I know.”
She missed her brother. He was the only real family she had—the only family she’d ever been able to count on. It would be nice to live near him again. To get to know Heather and Gabe better. To have people around who loved her no matter how badly she screwed up. No matter how hard she tried to push them away.
“I’ve got a couple more leads on some places for Mom,” Eric said. “Something will work out.”
Esther chewed on her thumbnail. “By the end of the month?”
“If we have to, we’ll put her stuff in storage for a few weeks and she can stay with us until she finds a new place.”
That was a terrible idea. The worst. It was exactly what she was afraid would happen. “Eric—”
“It’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine. His house was too small. Mom would drive him nuts. She’d drive Heather nuts.
“You don’t even have a spare room.”
“Then she won’t be able to get comfortable. It’ll motivate her to get her own place.”
“Yeah, right.” Her mother was like a lamprey eel. Once she’d clamped onto you, there was no shaking her off. Give her an inch and she’d take a second inch. And then a third, and a fourth, until you were all out of inches.
She’d been dying for an invitation to move in with Eric and Heather since Gabe was born. Once she was ensconced in their house, she’d never move out. The appeal of being taken care of would be too great. She’d start wheedling them to get a bigger place. Suggesting they pool their money and go in on something together. He’d never be rid of her. For the sake of Eric’s sanity—and Heather’s—Esther couldn’t let that happen.
“Forget it, I’m moving back. I can put in for a transfer to the Seattle office, get an apartment with a spare room, and move Mom in with me.” She owed it to Eric, after everything he’d done for her. Coming back to Seattle after college, looking after Mom so Esther could take a job out of state and start living her own life. It was her turn now. Time for her to start doing her share again.
“Absolutely not.”
She knew Eric still felt guilty for going to college out of state and leaving her alone with their mom. Esther had spent three years of high school and one year of undergrad dealing with their mother on her own while Eric was away, and he’d been doing this stupid self-imposed penance ever since.
“You’re not the boss of me. I can do what I want.”
“Tell me what’s really going on,” Eric said. “What are you trying to run away from?”
She elected to play dumb. “What do you mean?”
“This is what you do whenever things get too real. You run.”
“I’m trying to run toward a problem, not away from it.”
“You love living in LA. You’ve got a life there.”
“I did. I do.” She tried to keep her voice light, but the words landed with a leaden thunk.
“What’s changed?”
She crossed her arms stubbornly, even though he wasn’t there to see it. “Nothing. I’m just trying to do the right thing here.”
Eric wasn’t having it. “Sis.”
“What?”
“I can always tell when you’re hiding something. Spill, before I fall asleep again.”
Esther sighed and stared up at the popcorn ceiling of her bedroom. She’d always hated that popcorn ceiling. It was one thing she definitely wasn’t going to miss. “Los Angeles is fine. There’s just not as much keeping me here as there used to be.”
“What does that mean?”
