Page 67 of Our Little Secret

“Maybe, but probably less.”

“Ten grand?”

“Money’s tight, but you can ask him.”

“No.” Leah shook her head violently as she got to her feet and walked to the window at the front of the house. “You ask him for me. Please.” Leah rubbed her arms as if a sudden chill had swept through her. “It’s just so awkward.” Leah didn’t say it, but the silent reminder ofyou owe mehung in the air between them. Brooke didn’t respond and Leah added, “Please, Brookie. You and Neal, you two are my last hope.”

Brooke closed her eyes for a second. This was a mistake and she knew it, but she remembered her mother in those last days, thin on the bedsheets, her eyes sunken, squinting against the sunlight streaming through the windows of the hospital room. “You two girls, you take care of each other,” she’d said, not asking, not beseeching but stating a fact as she’d grabbed each daughter’s wrist in her bony fingers, her grip surprisingly strong. “Promise me.”

And they had.

Now, Leah was staring at her with wide, worried eyes. Brooke couldn’t stand it. “Okay,” she finally agreed, “but this is the last time.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Leah was nodding her head enthusiastically, blond curls bobbing around her face. She held up both palms as if in surrender. “Do this and I will never, ever ask again. Never. I swear.”

“I’m going to hold you to it.”

“I just—I just need to get through this divorce and then I’m done with men. I’m never going to get married again.”

Brooke tossed her a give-me-a-break glance.

“Yeah, yeah, okay. IknowI’ve said it before, but this time I mean it. I mean likereally! And this time I’ll sign a note for the loan for sure, make it official, and start paying you back as soon as I find a place and get that job.”

“And you’re staying in Phoenix?”

“For now. The area. Maybe Scottsdale, I don’t really know. Like I said, I can work for the school district, so I’m gonna be there until the school year’s over next June. By then I’ll know what I’m going to do, if I’m going to stay or if I move again.” She made a thoughtful face, her neatly arched eyebrows pulling together. “I just don’t know yet. It depends on where I can get a permanent position.”

In the past, whenever a relationship ended Leah had moved. She’d been in Chicago, San Diego, and Atlanta, as well as some obscure town in Oklahoma, before she’d landed the last time in Arizona.

“So you’ve filed for divorce?” Brooke asked.

“Not yet. Because I need the money.”

“And he’s agreed?”

Leah rolled her eyes. “We haven’t actually discussed it. I can’t afford a lawyer, but he’ll agree to anything. He’s already practically moved in with that bitch. And she’s got a kid, did I mention that? A two-year-old.” She blinked. “I can’t believe it. Sean told me he never wanted kids. Never. Now he’s going to be with her? Marry her?”

“You think?”

Leah’s chin trembled slightly. “Oh, I know. We have a mutual friend who keeps me informed.” She cleared her throat. “They’re talking of having a baby together, a ‘little brother or sister’ for the one she’s got!”

“Then you’re right. The best thing you can do is get through this divorce as quickly as possible. Of course we’ll help you.”

Leah blinked back tears and crossed the room to hug her sister. “I knew I could count on you,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“I still have to talk to Neal.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it.” She released Brooke. “I was just so worried about talking to you that I sat here kind of freaking out. I tried to read, but I couldn’t concentrate, and then I just stared out the window, waiting for you, you know.” She dashed her tears away. “It didn’t help that the guy was back.”

“What guy?”

“Some guy was across the street. Some weirdo. He stared at the house, you know, like he could see inside or something.”

Brooke froze. “A guy?”

“No, no, I don’t know. Maybe a man, but possibly a woman. It’s probably nothing, somebody waiting for somebody.”

Brooke walked to the window and stared out. A car drove by, its headlights glowing in the mist, but no one appeared to be loitering at the park or anywhere along the street.