“I can’t believe she did this,” I said. Frustration welled up inside my chest and threatened to consume me. “She has
no real money, she doesn’t know anyone out there, and she makes stupid decisions if someone tells her it will make her famous. I should have told her about Wickham.”
“We couldn’t have known this was going to happen,” Jane replied. “This isn’t your fault.”
“I am supposed to look out for her,” I replied, my voice coming out harsher than I intended. “She’s my little sister.”
Jane didn’t take my sharp tone personally. “Maybe it’s nothing,” she told me, looking on the bright side. “Maybe she really does have a real shot at an acting role. Just because he was fired doesn’t mean he can’t still have connections.”
I just looked at her. There was no way in hell that was even remotely possible.
Jane shrugged in acknowledgment of how ridiculous she sounded. “I’m just trying to make you feel better.”
I hardly acknowledged her. I just pushed my bowl of mush away.
Jane patted my shoulder and took the bowl to the sink for me. I stared out the window for a minute as she did my dishes. Jane was good to me.
I chewed my lip. There was something else I needed to ask Jane.
“Hey, I heard that Charles is back in New York,” I said after a moment. I turned in my chair to look at her.
Jane froze for a split second before putting on a fake smile. “I heard that too,” she replied. She shrugged casually. “But, we don’t exactly run in the same social circles, so I don’t think that I’ll run into him.”
She went back to scrubbing my cereal bowl with a vengeance.
“Are you okay?” I asked. I thought about getting up and helping, but the way she was attacking the bowl made me nervous. If I got too close, she might scrub me.
“I’m fine,” she replied, her voice flat. “I’m totally over him. He broke my heart, but I’m over it. I’ve moved on.”
I raised my eyebrows as she looked over at me. I didn’t believe a word of it.
“If I saw him on the street, I would simply wave and keep going,” she informed me, holding the scrub brush in a death grip. “No big deal.”
She turned and attacked the already sparkling kitchen sink. Our apartment was so clean she was going to have to start asking neighbors to clean their apartments just to have something dirty to tackle.
“Okay, then,” I told her. “If I see him, though, I’m going to punch him.”
“Lizzie!” Jane turned nearly threw the scrub brush at me before realizing it was a joke. “Don’t do that. Don’t punch people.”
“Fine. I promise.” I grinned at her. “Besides, he’s got security guards. I’d never get close enough.”
Jane chuckled and shook her head at me. “You did once.”
I shared a wry smile back at her. “You’re right. I did once.”
We shared a laugh. Then she sighed and grabbed the Clorox from under the sink, then began to scrub. I wondered how much a stainless steel sink would cost since she was going to scrub the varnish clean off of ours. It had to be half an inch thinner from just her scrubbing it this month.
I sighed and checked my phone for any messages or updates from Lydia.
There were, of course, none.
I tried to keep the rising panic in my chest under control by checking on the status of my flight tonight. I had no real plans of what I was going to do once I got to California, but I hoped just being in the right city would help my search.
And, if heaven forbid, Lydia needed me to rescue her from a terrible situation, I would be there and not a six-hour flight away.
I was mentally packing my bags with what I would need to bring and what could fit in a carry-on when the apartment door opened.
In walked Lydia with a big smile.