Page 16 of Gone Before Goodbye

“So many students adored Mom.”

“I meant for you?”

“Oh.” Maggie thinks a moment: “Shit.”

“Sorry,” Sharon says.

“Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Can’t say we’re surprised.”

“We are not, no,” Maggie says. “Doctor Barlow was there.”

“Oh, that must have been nice for you.”

“It was,” Maggie says. “He told me he was in love with Mom.”

“I bet he wasn’t the only one,” Sharon says.

“Yeah.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” Maggie says with a head shake. She scans the papers on the table. They aren’t scientific research—they’re bills. “What’s up with this?”

Sharon puts on the half-moon reading glasses again and peers over the top of them. “I’m calculating our financial options.”

“And?”

“And we have to sell the house.”

“Not yet.”

“Mags, it’s just a house. You get that, right? An inanimate object. A corporeal entity. Inert matter. Wood, bricks, mortar. It’s not…”

“Mom and Dad,” she finishes for her sister. “I know. Look, I’m going to New York tomorrow. Let’s talk about it when I get back.”

That gets Sharon’s attention. “What’s in New York?”

Maggie had planned to tell her about Barlow’s invitation, even though Barlow had insisted she not, but now that the moment is here, she is suddenly hesitant. She isn’t worried about betraying Barlow’s trust—her sister trumps an old mentor—but it suddenly feels like the wrong move to drag Sharon into this until she knows more.

Sharon mistakes the pause for something else. “Are you, uh, meeting someone?”

“What? No.”

“It’s okay—”

“Sharon—”

“Okay, never mind. Did you see any guys from your class at this thing?”

“Sleazy Steve.”

Sharon makes a face. “Eww, gross.”

“Right?”

“So why are you going to New York City?”