“You went through my things!”
“Why did you have their key?”
Andrew didn’t raise his voice.
“No. I picked it up off my kitchen floor.”
My mother said, “What?”
Leah looked at Eliza.
“Why did you have their key?”
Eliza looked at me.
“It was inside a magnetic box under our back steps.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Why do you have our house key?”
“I took it by accident.”
Andrew shook his head.
“It was inside a magnetic box under our back steps.”
She glared at him.
Someone had taken it.
“You don’t know when I took it.”
“No,” he said. “But I know you couldn’t have taken it by accident.”
The room went quiet again.
I remembered Andrew asking me whether I’d moved the key.
Someone had taken it.
And that someone was sitting across from me.
“I practically live here anyway.”
“Why?” I asked.
Eliza wouldn’t look at me.
“Eliza.”
She crossed her arms.
“I practically live here anyway.”
And suddenly, every irritating little comment felt different.
“When I first moved here, you told me I could come anytime.”
Not romantic.
Not playful.
Entitled.
“That’s exactly the problem.”
Her eyes filled.
“When I first moved here, you told me I could come anytime.”
