Page 11 of The Secret

“You’re welcome. Do you want us to stay with you tonight?”

I was flooded with gratitude again because my sisters were the best, even if I didn’t always appreciate their interference. But they had their own families and children to worry about, not to mention Freddie was pregnant. And Wolfie had a little one at home who needed just as much attention as the one she was currently holding.

“No, thank you, the boys are here with me. But could you come back tomorrow to make sure we’ve survived?”

Wolfie laughed. “Yes, of course we can. Have you told mum and dad?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s the middle of the night for them.”

“Okay, I’ll call them in the morning too. You know they’ll be on the next flight, right?”

I groaned. “Yes, I’ll send the jet, but can they stay with you?”

She laughed hard, but stopped herself in case the baby woke. “Good one.”

If I thought my sisters laid it on thick, my mother literally brought the motherlode when it came to discussions about my sex life, or ‘relationship status’ as she liked to call it. It wasn’t enough that between my brother and two sisters she had nearly seven grandchildren already, so there was no way she’d be staying anywhere except here.

But sometimes you just needed your mum.

“Okay.” Wolfie stood up and gently placed the baby back in her car seat, tucking her in. “Let’s get to work. Is there another laptop here? I’ll get started on a ‘What To Do’ list.”

I had no doubt that my two sisters could have ruled the world if they put their minds to it, which was good, because I needed all the help I could get. And more.

Freddie looked up from typing away, smiling softly. “Don’t worry, we’ll be here. You’re not on your own.”

True. I now had an eleven-day old baby to care for. I was a team of two.

And yet I don’t think I’d ever felt more alone.

3

Kit

“Eviction?! I’ve just signed the lease!” I fumed at the woman on the end of the line, emphatically waving around the notice I’d been served as I’d walked out of my apartment an hour ago. “The ink can barely be dry.”

“As I said, the building was sold to a private cash buyer last week and they have plans for it.” Her voice was so annoying and nasally and calm that it only made me rage more. “But they’ve given all tenants six weeks’ notice, as well as double their deposit back for any inconvenience caused.”

My deep breath buoyed every shred of self-control I was currently using to not explode at her, only managing to speak through gritted teeth. “I don’t want double my deposit! I want to have to not move all my things again.”

I paced up and down the floor of my best friend, Payton’s, apartment, where I’d stormed over to as soon as I’d opened the envelope. If there was carpet on the floor, I’d have worn it out approximately twenty minutes ago, while I was getting nowhere on the phone to this irritating representative for my landlords.

“Yes, Ma’am, I understand that.” There was some shuffling down the line. “Could you please hold?”

Musak began playing through the phone before I had an opportunity to object, then it went dead.

“Hello? Hello?”

Cut off.

Ahhhrrrrrrghhhhh. My phone found itself launched across the room into the couch cushions, because even though I was angry, I wasn’t about to smash it. I didn’t need the hassle of sorting out a new phone as well as finding somewhere else to live.

Payton appeared with a margarita, handing it to me in silence. I gagged at the strength of it and overzealous salt edge but downed it in one, thrusting the glass back out to her for a refill from the enormous jug she was holding.

She obliged, filling it to the rim once again. “So, evicted huh?”

“Can you goddamn believe it?! I only moved in two months ago! I’m just getting used to the neighborhood; I’ve even found a favorite coffee shop! I’ve worked out the quickest route to the subway! And now I have to start all over!”

I threw myself down on the couch. Trying to find a decent, affordable apartment in New York City, which didn’t require you signing the soul of your first born child over, was as easy as trying to figure out Quantum Theory or Jet Propulsion… or something else which was really hard to figure out.

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