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“I, um… No. I’m not. And I have something to tell you.” At least I can tell her on my own terms the way I couldn’t with Connor. “It’s about my family. My dad.”
“Okay…”
I close my eyes, savoring the concern in her voice, hoping it stays there once I break this next part to her. “My father is Greg Montague,” I blurt out, ripping it off like a band-aid. “Your dad. I’m your half-sister.”
“What?” The word is barely audible, more a breath than anything else. I should have told her to sit down or something before I dumped that on her.
“He had an affair with my mom a long time ago, bought a house for us to live in, kept us a secret, basically. And he made me swear I would never try to contact you. He didn’t want anyone to know he had a bastard child. But then Connor introduced us and things kind of snowballed… Anyway, I just wanted to tell you myself before you found out some other way.”
I chew on my thumbnail, wishing I could see her, judge her reaction. Will she be happy? Or mad that I lied to her too?
“Oh my God, this is crazy,” she finally says. “Mom was so convinced he was seeing someone else, asking him about business trips he couldn’t explain, but he always denied it. Not that she was any model wife, trust me. She had her own affair later.” There’s rustling on the other end, like she’s moving, and then she asks, “So we’re sisters? Family?”
My throat closes momentarily, overcome with relief. She sounds excited. Delighted, even. “You believe me?” Seriously, the first thing I’d be asking for with claims like that is proof.
“It makes sense,” she says, utter confidence in her voice. “Our eyes really do look alike, you know. Dad’s eyes. And this might sound crazy, but as soon as we met, I felt this kind of… affinity toward you. Like it was so easy to talk to you.”
“I felt the same way,” I whisper. “I’m so glad you’re not mad about this. That I kept it from you.”
“No, I understand how it is when Dad says you can’t do something. It’s impossible to go against him.”
Relief crashes through me. She understands. She won’t hold it against me.
“So, why tell me now?” she asks. “What changed?”
I wipe my palms on my pants again, shaking them out to stop them from sweating. “Dad and I kind of had a falling out recently. He’s kicking me and my mom out of the house he bought us.”
She makes a scoffing sound. “Are you serious? How many times is he going to pull that stunt? He did the same thing to me after I got married.”
I loop a finger around a lock of my hair, twisting it. “Yeah, it’s crazy. I’m packing my stuff up now.”
“Where do you live? I can come help you pack if you need.”
“Brooklyn. And no, I don’t want to bother you with anything like that.”
“Oh my God, I just realized. Back a while ago, when Archer was investigating Dad’s financials, he mentioned Dad owning a house in Brooklyn. I thought that was so weird he owned property there, but I get it now. Is he selling it?”
“Yeah.”
“You heard about the gambling debts?”
“Connor told me.” The reminder of him sends a fresh wave of pain through me, but I tamp it down. I can be miserable later once I’ve figured everything else out. “Dad’s been pretty psycho lately. Probably because of that.”
“He’s been psycho for a long time. This just made it worse.” She chuckles to herself. “I’m sorry, I hope you don’t mind if I speak badly of him. I went no contact with him a while ago.”
“No, that’s totally fine. I think that’s what’ll end up happening to us too.” Now that I’m not of use to him any longer.
“So, where are you moving? Closer to Manhattan?”
“I’m not sure.” I take a deep breath, hating to admit to her how low I’ve sunk. “Just a hotel for now, I guess. Then I’ll try to figure out—”
“Wait, wait. He’s kicking you out now? Like, right now? And you don’t have anywhere to go?”
“I—”
“Come stay with me and Archer. We have a guest bedroom all set up.”
“No, I can’t do that.” Live with Connor’s brother? He’d be furious. I can’t put him in that position. “My, um, my mom would have to come too.” I mean, that’s a valid excuse. “It would be too awkward. Considering the… affair and all.”