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“Patrick likes to act so protective of Eddie. Swooping into our house to fix everything and pay for all our problems like he’s some fucking saint or martyr. But he sure as hell wasn’t then. He ruined our family.” He let out a breath. “I wish she’d stayed. Even if she kept cheating on my dad, he wouldn’t be worse off than he is now. And my brother — what a hypocrite. He deserted us, same as her! Ran off to college, ran off to Italy. Like, the more distance, the better. You know what happened there?”
I tried to swallow, but there was a lump in my throat.“No.”
“No one does,” he scoffed. “He calls out our mom for havingonesecret, when he’s got a whole closet of them! I went through his stuff, you know, just like you. I found some notes he wrote in Italian, all about some chick named Livia. Turns out she was like some older sugar mama to him and he was fuckin’ obsessed with her. I translated them online, and—” He whistled. “There’s somecrazyshit in there. Are you ready for this?”
“Don’t tell me.”
“Don’t you want to know?”
“No.” I went to stand by the closed window and wondered where my screen was now. The thief probably tossed it in a dumpster. “If Patrick wanted either of us to know, he’d tell us. It’s his history. His privacy.”
“Fuckprivacy. Fuck secrets. I’m done with ‘em and you should be too!”
I locked eyes with Alexis. She hesitated by the desk, then began stacking papers, slowly.
Nick exhaled. “Listen, whoever you are. My brother made a mess of our family. Then he went off to college and pretended nothing happened. Once he was out of the country, it was like we didn’t exist. Now he’s back. He hangs around on the weekends and tells us what to do. He shows off his nice clothes and throws money around — he uses that shit to control us, you know. Buys groceries. Clothes for Eddie. Pay my fines? Sure thing. But buy plane tickets to visit our mom? No one can do it but him. ‘Don’t accept money from Dad, don’t accept money from Mom.’ Now he refuses to decide if we’re even going.”
I sat down hard on the bed. This was why Patrick was out of money. This was why he hadn’t called me.I need more time.
Quietly, Alexis slid the drawers back in my desk. She picked up thelittle liescocktail napkin and dropped it in the trash.
“No,” I gasped, dashing to the trash can.
“What?” Nick asked.
“Nothing.” I snatched the napkin from the trash and held it tight. I didn’t care what my sister thought.
“My brother hides, Christina.” There was a slurping noise, like Nick was drinking from a bottle. “He pretends. He lies and fakes it. He’s a coward. You need to know that about him.”
I stared at the inhumanly neat handwriting on the napkin. “You and Eddie can’t go see your mom yourselves? You…can’t afford the flight? Your mom can’t either?”
His voice broke. “I’m not going without him.”
His breathing turned ragged. Heaving. He was crying.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry. I could try to talk to him…”
“Just tell him I’m done waiting, and I’m not going to let this go.”
He hung up.
I turned Patrick’s phone over in my hand. It was warm. Guilt crept through me.
“What a mess,” I muttered.
Alexis sat down next to me on the bed, bumping my hip with hers. “At least your place is clean now.”
My room was as neat as a hotel bedroom. You’d never know it had been wrecked and ravaged. Alexis had even fluffed up my pillows. The only reminder was the torn nude sketch over my desk.
“This is the best it’s ever looked.” I hugged her, trying to cheer us both up. “You’rethe best.”
“Ha! If I never hear that again, it’ll be too soon.”
“Baby…” I rubbed her back through my sweatshirt.
She sighed. “Your shirt’s so comfy.”
“Keep it.”
