Page 97 of The Sinner: James

“You too. And now I know why,” she comments, amused.

“Shh...”

“Oh… You’re blushing like a virgin. Oops, did I say virgin?”

She rolls her eyes––her expression is so funny I can’t stop laughing.

“How is your love life?” I ask.

“Good,” she says, her lips tinged with a soft smile. “School is not what I thought it would be, but going to college was the best thing that could have happened to me. Having a boyfriend is the greatest thing ever. Oh, by the way… Where’s the evil one?” she asks before pursing her lips and crushing a smile as the server returns and slides the plates in front of us.

“Mmm... This looks good,” Eve says.

“Thank you,” I say to the woman.

She strolls away as I sink my spoon into a soft, warm chocolate mound.

“She’s home now.”

“Why?”

“Their house is unfinished, and she doesn’t want to live with Nat’s family. He lives with us too. He travels a lot and only stays with us a few days a week when he returns from his business trips.”

Sadness seeps into my voice.

“What is it?” she asks, her gaze filled with concern.

I place the spoon on the plate and glance away.

“I don’t know...” I murmur, staring out the window before swinging my eyes back to her.

“What’s the problem?” she asks again.

“This whole thing... It doesn’t feel right.”

“James?”

“No... No. It’s not about him... I mean, it is, but not in the way you think. It’s more about life. And my life. A lot of things didn’t bother me before I met him. I was happy living at home with my parents. I wanted to have a career as an author. I never thought about my future––not seriously anyway––let alone about making money, having freedom, and being in control of my life.”

“What are you talking about? You wrote a book that will be in bookstores this fall. You’re a published author at not even twenty years old. You’ll drink lattes and sign autographs while I’ll be sweating over some stupid test or waste my time learning information that will never get me a job once I finish school. You think that’s freedom?”

“I don’t know what freedom is. At least you and Daria live away from home and have a life. I’m still living with my parents in their house––on their dime. They agreed to let me stay with them and not go to college because I wanted to become an author. That’s fine, but my chances of making a living with it are slim. I’m not authoring commercial books. And even if I was, it would still be a crapshoot. I suspect they know all this. They probably thought I’d stay with them while building this sham of a career before getting married and living with someone else. I don’t have any money of my own, and frankly, I’ve never given it much thought until now. It didn’t bother me until I wanted to do something without their knowledge and realized the situation I was in.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Everything is theirs. Their rules meant little to me because I wanted nothing from them all these years. But now that I want a life of my own, I don’t know how to go about it. A job won’t give me enough money to live independently––not far from them, anyway. I’ll always need their help. I wouldn’t even be able to afford the car I’m driving right now, let alone a place of my own, if it wasn't for them.”

She looks at me, puzzled.

“Why is it suddenly so damn important for you to be independent?”

I take a deep breath.

“They don’t know about James.”

Her eyes widen with surprise.

“What? No. Why didn’t you tell them? Women would kill to be with him.”

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