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“Ugh, sorry, love.” Jane ripped her blouse off and tossed it into her hamper. Becca crawled back into bed after shedding her bathrobe. “Fell asleep over at Cait’s. Our discussion wasn’t over when we got back…” She paused to yawn. “And like a knob, I passed out as soon as I laid down.”

Becca tucked herself in and opened a mobile game on her phone. “I know. I saw you.”

“Did you? Hope I didn’t worry you.”

“Only for a few seconds until I remembered you guys are so boring that there was no way you had run off to gamble all your money in Vegas. Or had been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped? Oh, my.” Jane hung her bra up on the back of her door. She was in her sleep shirt before she turned around. “Make sure you’re scooted over. I am coming in.”

Becca held her hand up in Jane’s face when she got into bed. “Did you brush your teeth?”

“No, Mum, I didn’t. I will do it in the morning.”

“Better not think you’re kissing me, then.”

“Who are you? Cait? That is the kind of thing she would say.Yaa,speaking of Cait, apparently I was the last to know that she was thinking about participating in a beauty pageant. She told me tonight. You already knew?”

“She said something about talking to you about it soon. Guess it was tonight.”

“Guess so! Why did she wait so long to tell me?” Jane was beneath the covers with Becca, although the sheets and duvet were nestled tightly between their bodies. “Doesn’t sound like she would be busy for more than a couple of months. She doesn’t even care about winning. Ah, she has been rather rough on herself lately, huh?” Jane’s hands folded behind her head, her elbow brushing against Becca’s temple. Before Becca could respond, Jane continued, “She has been talking about taking you with her to the contest in New York. Did you know you have been signed up for that?”

“Apparently.” Becca yawned.Thanks, Jane.Didn’t she know those things were contagious? “I’m more worried about you being left here alone with your niece.”

“Cece? She can take care of herself. That’s how it goes in Hong Kong.”

“This isn’t Hong Kong, Jane. You know that. People take things like minors being by themselves way more seriously.”

“She’s turning sixteen!”

“I’m just saying. If neither Caitlyn nor I are here, you can’t go running off without taking her with you.”

“Bollocks.”

“Bollocks, indeed.”

Becca hated that Jane fell asleep within the next few minutes. Not that she was inclined to keep that conversation going, but it would have been nice to have some company as she forced herself back to sleep.Best I can do is ads in my mobile game.She almost forgot to turn down the sound before someone from Cameo woke Jane back up again.

“…The fourth bedroom overlooks the tree line out here.” Chara Harke, the high-end real estate agent Caitlyn had hired to find the family a new, bigger place to live, opened the blinds to reveal a sun-swept yard bumping up against a grove of evergreens. “Walk-in closet, like the other bedrooms, but this one’s smaller. Perfect room to use as a crafty wonderland or storage.”

Becca was the only one paying attention since Caitlyn was busy texting her coach Izzy about the pageant. It was either that or being outside talking to her on the phone, and Becca shot that down before Caitlyn finished saying the idea. “This could be a good guest room,” Becca said as Caitlyn glanced up from her phone. “Or Cece’s room, I guess.” It was too small to use as the home office, and the lack of outlets spoke to how old the home was. “What do you think?”

“Huh?” Caitlyn held her phone to her chest so it didn’t look like she was reading the messages that continued to buzz in. “Oh, yes, it’s nice. Bit small, though. And you know Jane will hate these floors.”

Rebecca pressed her flat shoe against the original hardwood floors. “Why?”

“They’re old, and they bounce. She hates bouncy floors.”

Chara was still all smiles as she pointed out the original crown molding and the updated insulation to the windows. But shemust have known that this house was already a dud. Not only was the style all wrong for their family, but it was high up in the Hills, where much of the city’s oldest, richest money lived. While Caitlyn liked the privacy, Becca knew Jane needed more energy around her abode, and it was too far to casually swing by the downtown office for anything they needed.This is where you live if you at least partially work from home.Or had firm boundaries between work and family, which Jane and Caitlyn were still working on.

As for Becca? She was fine with anywhere, as long as she had her own room again.

When they roundtabled at the huge kitchen island counter, Becca said as much. It was only her, though. Caitlyn had gone outside to keep chatting on the phone.Thanks, Cait.Becca wasn’t the one sinking money into a move, outside of any furniture she bought herself. Yet she was often the one left with Chara, who peppered her with questions as if Becca knew anything about hard budget limits or what her partners’ biggest dealbreakers were outside of the obvious. It didn’t help that Jane seldom came to tour homes. She was worse than Becca!

“You have to forgive Caitlyn,” Becca said when she was stumped by another of the agent’s questions. “She’s distracted right now.”

Chara finished filling out some paperwork before tucking her work tablet back into her giant tote bag. “I say this with the utmost professionalism, but you three are… tiring!”

Becca laughed at such candidness. “I’m sure we are. It doesn’t help that this is spurred by a teenager now living with us for however long she’ll be going to school here.”