“That’s why you cheat. If you lose, your mother won’t love you.”
“She doesn’t love me anyway.” Andi sighed.
“And yet you keep trying to earn her love.”
“Did Danny show you the video?”
“He did.” Jazzy tilted her head and gave Andi a sidelong glance. “Your mistake was giving me the coconut oil.”
“Duh.” Andi rolled her eyes. “I thought the coconut would overwhelm your recipe. Apparently it enhanced it.”
“Why did you give me anything at all?” Jazzy asked. “You didn’t have to. No one else did.”
“What kind of contest would it be if you weren’t in it,” Andi said.
“You mean that?”
“Sherlock is nothing without Moriarty.”
“Just for clarity, you’re Moriarty.”
“No,you’reMoriarty.”
“Well, either way, both characters are smart.”
“So smart.”
“Like Sherlock was such a saint,” Jazzy said.
“There you go. A heroin addict hero. What’s that all about?”
“Remember that Arthur Conan Doyle reading challenge in fifth grade?”
“Why do you think I brought up Sherlock and Moriarty.”
“Did you cheat on that too?”
Andi gave her a look. “I have to win. You get that, right?”
They fell silent. The Christmas music from the courthouse stopped. It was after ten. Jazzy was about to suggest they walk out together when Andi said, “I shouldn’t have slept with Danny.”
Bowled over by an apology, Jazzy sucked in her breath. She wanted to encourage Andi to stay openand honest. “Danny and I were taking a break. I should have been more mature.”
“It was shitty of me.”
“It was,” Jazzy agreed.
Andi rubbed her gloved hands together. “I’ve always been jealous of you.”
“Me?” Stunned, Jazzy stared at her. “I was jealous of you. You had all the cute clothes and high-tech toys. You won everything...”
“Which you now know involved considerable cheating.”
“Why were you jealous of me? I was a sickly kid. I didn’t get to go run and play like the other children.”
“Everyone adored you,” Andi said in a long-suffering voice. “Everyone made concessions for you because you were sickly. You had a good dad who showed up for every event. Then he married Sarah and you had the coolest stepmom ever. I felt like I came up short around you.”
“Andi, you were healthy, and your parents had money.”