Page 56 of Games We Play

“I’ll see if I can make it work. I have to go, kitten, my guest is back from the restroom and I need to finish my dinner. Take care of yourself, all right?”

She hung up.

Leah lay still for a while, debating whether to take a shower before having her fun. Ultimately, she got up and went to check in on her sister for a final time that night.

“Karlie?” she lightly knocked on the bedroom door. “You okay in there? Wanna talk?”

The door was unlocked. Leah found her sister at her desk, finishing up one of her applications, sans birth certificate.

“Hey.” Leah closed the door behind her. “Wanna talk about something?”

Karlie shook her head without a word.

“How about some ice cream? I could go down and get us both a scoop.”

“I guess.”

Leah sat on the edge of her sister’s bed. Karlie pulled out her ear buds and gave her sister a furtive glance. Hair as curly as Leah’s hung limp against Karlie’s profile.

You have the same nose as that little girl…

“How many schools are you applying to, exactly?”

Karlie shrugged, as if none of it mattered. “Five. My counselor convinced me to apply to OSU too.”

“Mom won’t like that. She really wants you to go to PSU.”

“So? I might not get in. I also might be better off going to community college first.”

“Well, there certainly isn’t anything wrong with that. I did community college. I bet the programs at PCC are even better now.”

“Maybe.” Karlie threw down her pencil with a huff. “It’s not fair, sis. Mom is always holding shit back from me.” Her cheeks whitened. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to cuss.”

“It’s not a big deal to me. As long as you mean it.”

“Thanks. You’re cool.”

You wouldn’t think that if you knew certain things about me…“We’ll figure it out, okay? Whatever you need to get for your applications, you’ll get.”

“It’s not only the birth certificate thing.” Karlie hid her eyes behind her hand. “It’s… everything. I feel like there’s something people aren’t telling me. Like everyone else in the world knows what it is, but I’m too stupid to see it.”

Leah didn’t say anything for a few moments. Whatcouldshe say? Because, yes… there were things Karlie was not yet allowed to know, and some of it for her own good. She didn’t know that her grandma Vaughn had dementia. She didn’t know that her parents once came so close to bankruptcy that Ray and Janet were calling extended family members in case they needed a place to stay after they lost the house. She sure as hell didn’t know the real reason she couldn’t see her birth certificate.

Yet Karlie was a teenager, and teenagers were prone to hormonal paranoias that would never be bested in their adulthoods. Even if nothing was hidden from her, she would still be convinced that there was.

“I’m gonna go get that ice cream.” Leah stood, the tip of her finger touching her sister’s curly hair. “When I get back, we’ll have some serious girl talk. Then I’ve gotta get ready for bed.”

“It’s only eight…”

Leah hesitated in the doorway. “How long do you think girl talk is going to take?”

Karlie spared a little smile. Leah decided to take it.

Chapter 19

“That must have been your girlfriend.”

Sloan pocketed her phone the moment Aaron returned to the dining room. His smug demeanor said he hadn’t gone to the bathroom to do personal business. Well, not the biological kind. Well, notthatbiological kind.Disgusting. Hope he shits himself to death.Nevertheless, Sloan spared her business partner a fake smile as she sipped from her wineglass. Her half-eaten plate of elk steak and seasoned vegetables would remain that way for the rest of the conversation. Aaron didn’t hesitate to keep eating his.