“Stop.”
“What?”
“You’re my sister. The only family I have left besides Robert. And you were going to testify against me for fifteen thousand dollars from a woman who has been lying to everyone for years.”
“I didn’t say yes.”
“But you didn’t say no.”
I closed my eyes and felt the weight of forty years of disappointment settle in my chest.
“Linda, I’ve spent my entire life helping people who never helped me back. I’m done. You want money? Get a job. You want family? Start acting like it.”
“Margaret, please—”
I hung up.
I didn’t block her again.
I just stopped answering.
Eventually, she stopped calling.
October came.
Robert kept his job. Paid his bills. Started seeing a therapist. His idea, not mine.
We had dinner every Sunday, sometimes at Willow Street, sometimes at a diner in town. We talked about small things. His work. The weather. A movie he watched. We did not talk about Vanessa. We did not talk about the money.
