“Smart woman.”
I narrowed my eyes.
He took a drink of coffee, looking far too innocent.
“She spends her own money on classroom supplies,” I said.“Cries at every graduation, even though the fifth-grade graduation is basically kids walking across a gym floor while parents clap.She knows which kid needs extra snacks, which one hates reading out loud, which one is going home to a house that isn’t easy.”The words caught a little in my throat.“She notices everything.”
“Runs in the family.”
I looked at him.“You think so?”
“I know so.”
I breathed out slowly.
That was the problem.
Novalea noticed everything, and I had been keeping the biggest thing in my life from her.“I haven’t told her any of this,” I admitted.
“The Ledger?”
I shook my head.“None of it.”
Wheels didn’t react, and that made me feel worse.
“I know that sounds bad.”
“It sounds like you were trying to protect her.”
“I was.”My fingers tightened around his.“I am.She’s my sister, Wheels.She’s all I have left.”
His eyes softened.
“And if I called her and told her people were threatening me and I found documents tying half the city to some secret organization, she’d want to help.She’d show up.She’d ask questions.She’d get herself involved because she thinks I worry too much and assumes half my panic is overreaction.”
“Is it?”
“No.”
“Then she’d be wrong.”
I laughed, but it shook on the way out.“She doesn’t know that.Not really.She knows I’ve been stressed.She knows work has been weird.She knows I’ve dodged calls for the last couple of months, and I hate that.”I looked away before he could see too much.“I hate that I’m letting her think I’m ignoring her.”
“You’re keeping her out of danger.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t make it easier.”
“No,” I whispered.“It really doesn’t.”
Wheels shifted his chair closer, just enough that his knee brushed mine.“Goldie.”
I looked at him.
“You did what you had to do.”
I wanted to believe that.Part of me did.The other part heard Novalea’s laugh in my head and imagined her calling me dramatic for not answering my phone, and it made my chest ache.“I should at least text her,” I said.
