Then Dad looked back at me. “Nora, what do you think we should do?”
I put down my fork. “I’m not answering that.”
He frowned. “She wronged you.”
“Nora, what do you think we should do?”
“She did. And the part that involves me is simple. She damaged my dress, so she owes me for it. Everything else is between you, Diane, and the nineteen-year-old who still lives under your roof.”
Diane started to say, “But she’s your sister—”
“Exactly. Her sister. Not her parent.”
The room went quiet.
“I already said I’d pay,” Valerie mumbled.
“No, you offered to pay if I kept quiet,” I said.
“The part that involves me is simple.”
“I’m not selling you my silence, Val. I’m taking the money because you broke something that belonged to me.”
Valerie swallowed. “I can pay half now. From my savings. The rest in monthly payments.”
“Write it down.”
She did, right there on a napkin.
She slid it across the table, and I folded it into my pocket.
“I’m not selling you my silence, Val.”
***
