Page 66 of Fly with Me

Her watch began vibrating. Her chest lifted at the thought of Stella calling.

But it wasn’t Stella.

Olive’s stomach turned over.

Why would Heather be calling her now, after the entire family had been ghosting her for more than a week? She fumbled in her pocket, the tingling of her fingers making it difficult for her to grip the phone. She tucked it to her ear and adjusted her grip on the leash so she could also hold her keys.

“Hey.”

“Mom needs something from you,” Heather said by way of greeting. “Her lawyer emailed you some documents last night. We need your signature authorizing payments from Jake’s accounts. This next consultation is out of network. She wanted me to check in with you because it’s urgent, and she hadn’t heard back.”

“I got off late last night. Haven’t even checked my email yet this morning.” Olive tried to keep the bite out of her voice. “I’m out taking Gus on a walk now.”

“Okay.”

Silence lingered on the other end of the line.

Olive sighed, hoping the frustrated exhale wasn’t audible to her sister. “That’s all?”

Heather took a couple of breaths. “Fiona saw you on the TODAY show. I had it on while I was getting them ready for daycare.” Heather’s tone was difficult to read. “Everyone at work—like the hygienists and the receptionists—are all talking about it too.”

“Oh?”

“You weren’t going to tell us?”

“What do you want me to say, Heather? I don’t want to talk to you if it’s going to end the way that all our conversations inevitably end.” Gus wrenched the leash forward, probably to go after a squirrel that had scurried up into the trees.

“What? With me trying to figure out why you could give up without fighting for Jake?”

“Jesus Christ, Heather.”

“Language. You’re on speaker. Cody’s in the back seat.”

Olive sighed, deciding not to mention that Cody wasn’t even a year old yet and probably wasn’t offended by vaguely blasphemous profanity. “Sorry.”

“I’m in the middle between you and Mom, and it sucks for me too, you know? You want me to go against Mom’s religious beliefs and take her son away? I know you’re not a mom, so you don’t understand…”

“Just because I’m not a mom doesn’t mean I loved Jake any less than you both did.” She swallowed to suppress the trembling in her voice. She had not been prepared to be ambushed with this conversation. “Do you really think after everything that the doctors have said Jake’s going to wake up? Tell me honestly.”

Heather didn’t answer for several minutes, and when she did it was in a quieter voice. It was barely audible over the babbling of her son in the seat behind her. She sounded just like the timid baby sister who had been begging to follow Olive and Jake everywhere during their summer vacations. “How can I tell Mom not to believe in miracles when I want to believe in one too?”

What could Olive say to that?

“I’ll sign whatever Mom wants.”

Neither sister seemed to know where to go from there, but Heather didn’t hang up. Olive heard Cody babbling.

Heather cleared her throat. “The TODAY show thing…”

“Sorry if it confused Fiona.”

“You’re really dating her?”

“Stella,” Olive corrected, stupidly. Olive didn’t think lying to her family would be an issue since it wasn’t like they ever talked to her about anything personal anymore. But the idea of telling a flat-out lie bothered her. “Why does it matter?”

“She seems different than your usual type.”

Here we go again.