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“Right. But we don’t have to worry about school districts, correct? Caitlyn told me your niece is going to Winchester Academy.”

“Yes. I’m sure it’s a popular place to send your kids around here.”

“Winchester, Douglas, and St. Ignatius are the three I see the most among my clients. In this area, the public high school is Riverside.”

“The new one built a few years ago?”

“The same. Built with the generous tax funding of the people who live in its district.”

“What was the high school before Riverside?”

“It’s the same district, but it used to be Montgomery High. They built Riverside to accommodate overcrowding.”

Uh-huh…Rebecca didn’t say it, but she had a feeling that everything about the new Riverside High was carefully prepared to appeal to the wealthy families thatmightsend their children there. And the only old-money families that sent their teens to public school had exhausted all other schools that didn’t require boarding. Becca had been surprised to find out that Winchester had a healthy expulsion policy if violence or hard drugs were involved.

Not that any of this helped narrow down where to live in the city. Technically, the Hills were unincorporated county land, and Becca knew that wasn’t by accident, either.Easier to keep the sheriff’s office in your pockets than the city police.Most of the residents here used private services. They didn’t care about the quality of the public schools or even most of the utilities. Things that continued to surprise Becca, whose only “wealthy” dating experience before Jane and Caitlyn was a woman who very much relied on local public services to get by.Just with a bigger rainy day fund and retirement ahead of her.

But now wasn’t the time to think about her, the biggest piece of shit Rebecca ever had the displeasure of being entangled with. It was the time to think about the future, of a house big enough forthree women who enjoyed their separate living spaces while also needing to accommodate sleepovers once or twice a week.

And now a teenager. Because why not?

“What a waste of time, huh?” Caitlyn said in the car as she simultaneously texted and put on her seatbelt. “I’m starting to think we’ll never find a place before next year. Chara says that a lot of homeowners are unmotivated to sell with the current interest rates, but if we’re paying cash, who cares? We’ll give them plenty to buy somewhere else. Most people moving out of these houses are downsizing, anyway.”

She continued to text furiously without turning the ignition. “Do you want me to drive?” Becca drolly asked from the passenger seat.

“No need.” Caitlyn tossed her phone into her bag beside her and put on her sunglasses. “So! Apparently, I need to live in Iowa for the month before the pageant begins to be on the safe side of residency. And since I own that vacation property on the lake, I can’t simply crash at my parents’ place in Des Moines.” Caitlyn finally started the car. “Feeling like an excursion to the Midwest, Becca?”

Was she allowed to say no?

“Ah, so the mask on this finally comes off,” Jane said at dinner that night. She was the only one not touching Caitlyn’s pork chops, which she had cooked specifically because it was one of her wife’s favorite American meals.I’m on to you, Cait.Buttering up Jane to prepare her for a month-long separation? Becca saw it from a mile away. “You are ‘blowing this pop stand,’ as you two like to say, so you can participate in your pageant.”

“It’s not like I still can’t work, Lin,” Caitlyn said, reciting her laundry list of rebuttals Becca had helped her come up with while they cooked dinner. “The lake house has fiber internet and perfect cell reception these days. It better, because I paid for it.”

Jane sighed onto her forkful of pork chops and potato salad, two things she would push around her plate until Becca inevitably put them away in leftover containers. “And I have to stay here, of course. Without my beautiful, charming wife.” She glanced at her niece, quietly eating beside her while also scrolling through her phone. “Just lonely ol’ Jane, the single mum.”

“Invite Lilian to come visit. Ooh, or Willow!”

Jane dropped her fork; Cecelia spat out her water.

“Are you trying to bloody kill us at the dinner table?” Jane exclaimed. “No!”

Rebecca hid her laugher behind her glass of water. “I’ll be here too,” she reminded Jane. “I told Caitlyn I’d come over to Iowa when it’s closer to time to go to New York, but it’s not like I’m chopped liver here.” She nudged Caitlyn beside her. “Besides, I get to sleep in Cait’s bed so I can have my privacy again.” They had already worked it out, and Rebecca was excited.Cait’s big bath and bed… all to myself…Until Jane started whining for attention, anyway.She’ll want to do it in Caitlyn’s bed. Over and over.With photographic evidence to send over the excellent cellular reception, no less.

“Are you going to be in Iowa all by yourself until then?” Jane asked.

Before Caitlyn could respond, Cecelia asked, “Where the heck is Iowa?”

“Where did you learn ‘heck’?” Jane asked.

“You want me to say ‘hell’ instead? Believe it or not, I’m curtailing my cursing, Auntie.”

“Donotcall me Auntie.Diu!How old do you think I am?”

“You can’t saydiuat the dinner table!”

Even Becca knew what that swear meant, but she was staying out of this – as usual.

“I can say whatever I want at my own dinner table.” Jane poked her niece in the side. “You are supposed to be on my side. My wife is threatening to regale us with a visit from your mother. Do you want that?”