Page 73 of The Better Sister

“Kevin was meeting up with someone for a deal, just like I said. And I didn’t want to get in trouble, so he dropped me at the beach. But then I was cold, and bored, and so I walked back to the house to get a hoodie.”

“Ethan—” There was nothing I could say. If I told him to stop, he’d never trust me again. I needed to hear him out, whatever was going to come next.

“I found Dad.”

My face felt hot. I had to stop my hands from shaking. “Was he already—”

He nodded. “Yeah. It was... bad.”

I had no idea what to say. I sat in silence, waiting for him to explain.

“I’m the one who trashed the house and broke the window and put those things in my backpack. But I swear, he was already gone when I got home.” His face was red, and his lower lip began to tremble.

“Ethan, I don’t understand—”

“I thought you did it.”

My lips parted, but no words came out.

“I saw how he was treating you. And I knew what an important moment you were having in your job. You didn’t want anyone to know what was happening. You were trapped. And so when I found him like that, I thought it had to have something to do with what was going on between the two of you. Like maybe he was hurting you again, and you were protecting yourself.”

It’s always the spouse.Even Ethan thought so.

“I didn’t hurt your father, Ethan. You know that now, don’t you?”

He nodded. “I didn’t, either.”

“I know,” I said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

“So are the police even going to keep looking?”

“Of course,” I said, even though I knew they wouldn’t. I shifted the conversation to something more hopeful. “You’re okay with staying with me? With Nicky around, too?”

When he smiled, he actually looked happy. “Yeah. It’s gonna be good. I kind of like her.”

“You don’t have to say ‘kind of.’ It’s not going to hurt my feelings that the two of you have grown closer.” I was struggling for words to explain how much had changed while he was gone, and then realized there was no rush. He’d see for himself that things would be different now that he was home. “In fact, I’m sorry you didn’t have more of a relationship with her sooner. She’s changed a lot since you were little, and I don’t think I realized that until all this happened.”

“I wanted to know her better—even before. But Dad wouldn’t let me, and I didn’t want you to think I was, like, rejecting you or something. But, Mom, I did—”

“Ethan, you don’t need to explain anything.” I gave him a hug. “It’s all going to be okay now. And Nicky’s going to be around for a long time. All right?”

He paused, as if he wanted to say something else, but then the worry fell from his face. “I still can’t believe you’re sisters, though.”

“Tell me about it.”

I found Nicky in what would be her bedroom for the next four months. My desk and boxes were pushed into the corner next to the window bench to make room for a dresser for her clothes. She had her iPad propped open on the dresser to stream an episode ofReal Housewivesand was sitting cross-legged on the unfolded Murphy bed, cussing to herself as she tried to weave a string of leather through an impossibly small ring of wire.

“That’s going to look cool.” She had shown us the sketch of the leather collar-necklace the previous night.

“If I ever finish it,” she said, tossing the pieces onto the bed. “If I had all my tools, I would have been done last night.”

“I was thinking about that. If you need to bring more stuff from Cleveland before your apartment’s done, that would be okay.”

She looked genuinely surprised. “Yeah, sure.”

“I should have offered before, but—” We had been preoccupied by other things. “I’m second-guessing what we talked about regarding Bill.” I found a spot on the bed next to her to sit, being careful not to jostle her jewelry-making setup.

“I know you hate leaving anything in limbo, especially something this serious,” she said. “But it’s not your job to run around solving crimes right now, Chloe—not even Adam’s murder. Your job is taking care of Ethan.”

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