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She smiled. “Better.”
Smiling, too, I grabbed the apple juice from her bag. “Well, is it? Any wild frat parties on campus?”
“Trying too hard.” She shook her head.
“Fine, Miss Know-It-All! You start the conversation.”
“Perfect.” She laughed, winking at me. “And, yes, there are parties, but they aren’t frat parties. More like football parties, and I’m usually good at parties, but this last time … I felt like odd man out.”
“Why?” I asked, before stuffing my mouth.
“Funny enough it’s kind of the same reason as you.” She turned, relaxing against the pillows.
I laughed. “DeShawn is the boss at the firm where you’re working? And everyone but him and his best friend, who is also the boss, is ready to trip you down stairs when you’re around? And are probably glad you’re stuck on bedrest while they all battle to be on the governor’s wife’s case.”
“No…” She stared at me.
“So not the same … but go on.” I stuffed my mouth.
“First of all, the governor’s wife probably doesn’t like being referred to by her husband either.”
“Huh!” I scuffed, lifting my head. “I call her the governor’s wife, because watch her whenever she’s on camera; she comes on and says, ‘Hi everyone, I’m Governor Eilish’s wife, Dorothy-Ann Eilish… every single time. Some women want be ornaments on their husband’s tree. While I was at Harvard, I overheard some of the undergrad girls talking about how they only went there to find a smart guy to marry. They wanted to spend the rest of their lives at home. And I’m not knocking stay-at-home moms, believe me, but they were spending thousands of dollars, per year, in order to find a tree to hang themselves on. I wanted to tell them eHarmony was much cheaper! They had no goals, no dreams, nothing but getting married so that someone could take care of them. It was scary. I didn’t think women like that existed. But they do. Dorothy-Ann most likely felt her husband was spending too much time with his intern, and she didn’t want to be the governor’s ex-wife, so she killed her.”
There was not a doubt in my mind she was guilty, and I wasn’t saying it from an outsider’s point of view. I’d seen all the reports and watched as Levi built his case. She did it.
“Wow.”
I glanced over to her, and she was just shaking her head at me. “What?”
“Nothing, just … I think I saw a dark, twisted version of my future pass before my eyes.”
“Huh?”
She finished off the bag, tilting her head back for the crumbs before looking at me again. I just waited, fighting of the urge to bombard her with questions.
“At that party,” she said, picking up where she left off. “Everyone was talking about DeShawn. It was like walking with a celebrity. They had just won the game, but DeShawn, he stood out … like always. And when he was talking to guys and I was getting a drink—”
“Of what?”
“Sister. Remember.” She smiled.
This was not going to be easy. “You went to get a drink and…?”
“And then a few girls came over, asking what team DeShawn wanted to play on.”
“What team?” I questioned, confused.
“Exactly.” She pointed at my face. “That is exactly what I said and how my face must have looked. I told them, like a total dumbass, he plays for Georgetown, and he wasn’t going anywhere. They laughed and said, ‘Duh, we mean in the NFL.’ The NFL, Thea, the bloody National Football League. I never thought about it like that. Like, oh my boyfriend might be in the NFL. Everyone was talking around me about my future … no, DeShawn’s future, with me added into the mix because I was his girl.”
“Breathe.” I rubbed her shoulder, and she fell back on the pillows. “What did DeShawn say? Isn’t he majoring in computer science?”
“He’s an engineering major, minoring in computer since … the show off.” She pouted, and it was cute … and it reminded me of me, too.
“I know. Why couldn’t he just be a stupid jock,” I teased, but she didn’t laugh. “Does he even want to play for the NFL?”
“His exact words were, ‘Yeah, that would be cool.’” She bunched her face and made her voice deeper to mock him. “I had to push to get a direct answer, which was worse. He said he wants to go to the NFL, and he wouldn’t work as hard if he didn’t. But he also knows that anything could happen and he doesn’t want to end up like his father, who got a full ride to Notre Dame, blew out his knee, forcing him quit football, drop out of college and spend the next nineteen years drunkenly talking about what could have been every time he lost a job. Which is why he must take his major seriously, so he has a strong back up. He’s thinking about everything. He’s laying out two paths for himself.”
I could see it. That look in her brown eyes. I knew it well. The doubt. The urge to bolt. But I didn’t want her to run, not from him. He was reasonable and trying to make something of his life. He shouldn’t be faulted for that. But Selene was my sister and I knew what that doubt was. I knew that fear and how it quickly it squashed the light that was finally shining in her.
