Page 73 of The Snowball Effect

“Kimberly… was unreliable, I guess, is the best way to say it. She’d dropped out of high school and lived with us, on and off. And when she was there, it was – it could be great,” Emma whispered, and Regan wasn’t sure if Emma even realized it.

“Like when she took you for bagels at the deli,” Regan slipped in quietly, thinking about Kimberly clutching those bagels like a lifeline.

Emma blinked several times as if coming back to reality in the back of the car. “Right. Anyway. If she wasn’t with Gram and me, she was staying with some guy. Kimberly always had a… sketchy dating life. But when I was thirteen, she met Ted. And I don’t know what it was about him or if she was just finallyready, but – she grew up. They got married when I was fourteen, and he got offered a job in Miami soon after that.”

She gave these details perfunctorily, as if she’d decided that she’d given enough emotion into the story.

Regan was completely invested as she found herself scooting closer to Emma. “You didn’t go with her,” she filled in expectantly.

Emma snorted with laughter. “Uh, no.” Still, the look on her face grew pensive as she quietly said, “She asked me if I would, if I’d even consider it.A lot. But I didn’t want to; I couldn’t imagineliving away from my gram, and I’d already started high school. So, she went with Ted. Then she had my sisters.”

Regan blinked, shaking her head as she held up a hand to hit pause. “Wait – there are going to be sisters there tonight?” Had she known this? She didn’t think so.

Confused amusement etched into Emma’s expression. “Yes. Eva’s twelve, and Everly’s… eight? Yeah, eight.”

“Are they fun?” Regan asked.

“I don’t really know,” Emma admitted after a few beats. “I’m not close to them. Obviously.”

Contrite, Regan nodded. “Obviously.”

Emma shrugged, exhaling deeply. “I’ve only ever met them a couple of times, whenever my mom brought them up here for visits. But they all moved up here in March. And Kimberly’s been… intent… on trying to bond ever since.” Emma turned to stare intently out the window once more as she murmured, “And you saw about how well that went when she came to the apartment.”

Regan had a million more questions. She wanted to knoweverything, and questions nearly spilled past her lips.

But, as she looked closely at Emma, the anxiety she was feeling was clear as day. And Regan found that the questions she would normally ask fell right back down her throat.

She didn’t need verbal confirmation to tell her what she could see with her own eyes.

They arrived only minutes later, and they both came to a halting stop on the sidewalk as soon as the Uber drove away behind them.

Regan gave a low whistle as she stared up at the house before them. The home itself was sprawling, with a large, well-maintained front lawn and a long stone walkway in front of them, leading up to the front door.

“So… I didn’t expect a McMansion to be our final destination,” she finally said, turning to look at Emma as she gestured up at the house.

Emma’s expression was grim as she made no move to conquer the walkway up to the front door. “Yeah. Me, neither.”

The emotion in her words made Regan wince as she dragged her gaze back to the house. “I’d expected something… different.”

Maybe she’d been relying too heavily on stereotypes based on how Kimberly dressed and how much makeup she’d worn. Which, no judgment on Regan’s part! But Regan had grown up in a neighborhood very similar to this one, and none of her neighbors styled themselves the way Kimberly had.

Also, there’d been that whole thing about how Emma hadn’t been able to afford the Alton Writing Fellowship, so she’d made some assumptions about money…

Which this home did not align with.

Emma sighed, capturing Regan’s attention once more. She watched as Emma swallowed heavily… and still made no attempt to move closer to the house.

“You know, we haven’t even knocked yet,” Regan lowered her voice conspiratorially. “We don’t have to.”

Finally, Emma’s stare tore away from the house to blink down at Regan in confusion. “What?”

She wiggled her eyebrows as she whispered, “We can go. Call another Uber. Go get a pizza. Hang out at home. I’ll let you pick the entertainment tonight, even though I’m terrified of what you might choose.”

Last weekend, when Regan had extended Emma the option of picking what they’d watch for the first time since starting their hangouts, Emma had simply shrugged and informed Regan that she didn’t watch many shows or movies. When Regan pressed, baffled, Emma had informed her that she’d been so busy between school and work in the last few years, she hadn’t keptup with anything current, and she hadn’t wanted to pay for any subscriptions.

Terrifying, really.

Emma rolled her eyes, scoffing out a laugh as she pushed Regan’s shoulder with her own.

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