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.
“You made me an appointment?”
“I found a listing,” Andrew corrected mildly.
I picked up his phone and scrolled. A bright upstairs bedroom. A shared kitchen. A little patch of backyard.
Nothing fancy.
Nothing terrible.
Just a room. Just a door that would be hers.
I held it out to her.
“We’re going to look at it.”
“I’m not moving there.”
“Then don’t. But we’re still going to look.”
“You can’t make me.”
“You’re right. I can’t.” I set the phone down. “But if you’re going to stay here while you figure out what comes next, I need to see you take a step.”
Kayla stared at me for a long, hot second.
Then she stomped upstairs. A door slammed.
Andrew sipped his coffee.
“I think that went well.”
