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In the pit of my stomach though, a little worm of acid crawls around. And that little worm is not terribly surprised.
My dad looks at me, pacing and shaking his head. “I hope you didn’t mess this up already. You need to take this job.”
The way my dad is acting is making me uncomfortable.
“Why? I can find a job here in New York. Or maybe back home, even. Keir is angry and controlling and honestly there is too much of an age difference for him to listen to a word I say.” I pause, bringing my logic back around. “I can work for somebody that doesn’t have Keir’s anger issues.”
“No! That won’t do! Can’t you see?”
“See what?”
“You would be in the perfect place to find out whatever Grayrose is hiding. You can live with him, spy on him, and report that back to me.”
I cock my head, totally puzzled.
“Why would you need to know that stuff? By the way, that sounds like a terrible way to live for a month.”
My father steps across the living room, grabbing my arm and squeezing. He looks deranged, the same look as I associate with his late nights playing poker, losing thousands upon thousands of dollars. There is a mad glint in his eye, a sign that he’s gambling again.
But I don’t understand the stakes.
“Why would you ask me to do that, Daddy?”
He releases me with a little push and walks over to the window, peering out.
“I didn’t want to be the one to tell you this. But I have no choice.”
My breath freezes in my chest. In my head, the one very specific scenario that I’ve been afraid of for my whole adult life takes shape.
My dad finally gambled away all the family’s money for the last time and now the family will be put out on the street.
“What?” I force myself to ask. Numbness washes over me, the feeling that this was always going to happen. “Did you lose everything?”
“What?” His head snaps as he looks over to me. “Why would you say that?”
My cheeks instantly redden. “I don’t know…” I mumble.
“It’s much more serious than that. It’s your sister.”
An image of Joy blossoms in my head. “Is she okay?”
“No, Ella. She’s not okay. Your sister has stage three acute myeloid leukemia. That’s cancer.”
My mouth opens in an O. I drop the towel I’m holding and stumble backward, horrified.
My little sister, a cancer patient?
I immediately start bawling, just blubbering, trying to say things and not making much sense.
“She has cancer?? How? How long? She didn’t tell me about any of it…”
My father has never really been the comforting sort. He’s always relied on my mom for that. He gives me a vaguely sympathetic look before reminding me.
“You need to be focused on what Joy needs right now. And besides, she doesn’t know. Your mother and I have talked to her doctors and together we decided that it would be better if your sister wasn’t burdened by the information.” He pauses, then sees that I’m about to protest. He holds up his hand to stop my words. “It’s just temporary, until the end of the school year. We just want her to enjoy her time for the next two months. After all, it may be all she gets before she has to worry about her hair falling out and being sick and… stuff.”
I stuff my knuckles against my lips, holding back my disagreement. After all, what do I know about cancer?
Just that my grandmother died of breast cancer before I was born.
