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“But you live in New York,” she said, repeating my point in confusion. “Why wouldn’t you go see, like, every single Broadway show?”
“Not everyone is as interested in your interests as you are,” Sasha said gently. It must have been a conversation they’d had several times before.
“I promise, you can educate me when you come to visit me.” I glanced at Sasha, realizing I’d made the invite without her input. “Whenever that may be.”
There. That left it open-ended. She could visit me when she was eighteen if Sasha made her wait that long.
I hoped she wouldn’t.
“Like when I go to college,” Molly said wistfully. “I hope I get into NYU. Then I’ll be close by you.”
Oh, she would get into NYU. If I had to buy them a fucking building or establish some kind of grant, she would go to NYU.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to try Juilliard or something like that?” I asked because I would buy her way into that, too. I remembered exactly what it was like to be a teenager in the middle of nowhere, longing for the city.
“Maybe when the time comes to tour campuses, Sophie could take you,” Sasha suggested, to my surprise.
“Absolutely,” I agreed. “I went to NYU. I would love to have an excuse to go back and see how the place has changed.”
The front door opened and Susan called out, “Hey, I’ve got the pizza! I could use a hand!”
“Molly, go help your sister,” Sasha said.
“Um, there are three people in this room, and only one of them has had a kidney transplant,” Molly reminded her.
Sasha remained unimpressed. “You can’t use that excuse forever. Unless the kidney actually falls out, you can go set the table for dinner and help your sister bring things inside.”
Left alone again with Sasha, I thought I should atone for my thoughtless remark. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought up the visiting thing.”
“No, it’s all right. It’s perfectly all right.” She rubbed her hands on the thighs of her jeans. “I couldn’t give my girls everything I wanted to when they were growing up. You know how that is.”
No shit I do. I nodded. “Yeah, my mom had it pretty hard trying to raise me, too.”
“We weren’t really poor. We were broke a lot, but not poor. Still, after losing Joey and then all of Molly’s hospital bills on top of his...Sophie, if you and Susan had never met, I would have lost everything. This house, maybe Molly, if I couldn’t have paid for the surgery. I’m not asking you to buy your way into our good graces. I don’t expect anything from you. But Molly loves you, and if you want to give her things, so be it. You tried to give her your kidney, for god’s sake.”
I flushed with embarrassment at that. I had tried, and I’d failed. I shouldn’t have gotten credit just for making the offer. “Sasha, I’m not bragging when I say this, I’m just trying to be straightforward: I have a lot of money. Like, more than I’ll ever be able to spend in my lifetime. If Molly wants to go to NYU, she’s going to get in. If she wants to go to freaking Harvard, I will find a way. If she wants to, I don’t know, buy a theater and run her own productions out of it, whatever she wants to do, I’m there for it. And that goes for you, too. I remember when my mom would have car trouble and we’d have to eat ramen for a month because she didn’t want to worry my grandparents by asking for money. I know what it’s like to struggle. There’s no reason you guys should ever want for anything.”
Sasha’s eyes filled with tears. “Even after what your father did to you?”
“He’s not my father.” I was officially ready to close that chapter of my life. I’d wasted enough time mourning a relationship that would never happen. “He chose not to be. But Molly is my sister. That’s not something he gets to opt out of on my behalf.”
“Hey guys,” Susan said, appearing in the doorway. Her long black hair swung over her shoulder as she leaned in. “Dinner is as served as it can be.”
I got to my feet. “Hi, Susan. I didn’t know I’d get to see you tonight.”
Get to see her. It was an intentional word choice. I didn’t want her to think I was upset that she was there. Out of everyone involved in the weird situation we’d found ourselves in, Susan was the one who’d been the most prickly. Maybe it was because I’d come crashing into her life as unexpectedly as she’d crashed into mine. All she’d been trying to do was go to her husband’s high school reunion, but she’d ended up face-to-face with a long-lost half-sister she’d had no interest in meeting.
