“And you’re giving me a deadline?”
“I’m giving us a plan.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It isn’t.”
She rounded on Andrew.
“And you. You’ve been treating me like some kind of predator all week.”
He picked up his coffee again.
“No, I haven’t.”
“You walk out every single time I come in.”
“The first time, I left because it was awkward,” he said. “After Amanda asked you to stop, I left because I refused to be part of it anymore.”
“Part of what?”
“Whatever experiment you thought you were running. You kept trying to cast me as a character in a fight with my wife. I wasn’t going to play the role.”
For once, Kayla had nothing ready.
Then her eyes narrowed at me.
“You told him to say that.”
I shook my head slowly.
“I didn’t even know he’d been looking.”
Andrew glanced at me, sheepish.
“I probably should’ve mentioned it.”
“Yes. You should have.”
“I thought staying out of it meant saying, ‘She’s your sister.’” He ran his thumb along the handle of his mug. “But really, I just left you holding a line that was supposed to be both of ours.”
I looked at him, and something tight in my chest loosened. I hadn’t expected him to see that. I hadn’t expected him to say it out loud.
Kayla let out a brittle laugh.
“Wonderful. Couples therapy’s over. Can I go get dressed now?”
“Please,” I said.
She turned for the stairs.
“And Kayla?”
She stopped, one foot on the bottom step.
“One of those rooms is available now. The woman renting it can show it this afternoon.”
She whipped around.
