“Yeah, maybe,” she says, but she doesn’t sound convinced. “Tell me how your night went.”
I pull my sandwich toward me again and take another bite. I’m too hungry not to eat. “It was strange being in the penthouse he lived in with his ex-wife. When Tony told me how Rick scarred his face, I wanted to slap her for leaving him when he needed her.”
“They live a lot differently than we did in the city, don’t they?” she asks, looking around the office.
“They’re still unhappy,” I say. “Even with all their money. We don’t have much, but in Portland, every day is a gift, and we know that. We’ll carve out something in Old Harbor that will belong just to us, and we’ll get through one day at a time.”
She squeezes my wrist. “I don’t want to be in your way.”
“You’re my sister, and I love you. You’re not in my way. If anything, I’m in yours. Rick can keep me safe for only so long. Stevie might never give up. She may never stop trying to hunt me down.”
“Then I guess we’re stuck with each other, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess we are. If you’re done eating, help me go through these boxes again. Tony said he added the counterweight according to the table in the crane’s manual. Maybe he was looking at the wrong column or something.”
I’ve always been good with pushing unpleasant things aside. It’s how I managed the past two years without ending each day in a blubbering mess. Talia needs me strong, and a lot of my strength comes from being able to avoid worrying about things I can’t change. Stevie knows I’m in town and there’s nothing I can do about that now, but leaving Cedar Hill may not be enough this time. She’s guilty, and she knows I know. She’ll protect herself.
If anyone I care about gets hurt because of me, I’ll have to live with it for the rest of my life, like Tony taking responsibility for the accident.
I force the thought from my mind because like Talia, I can only live one day at a time.