“Yeah,” Mollie said quietly. “I am. I’m sorry if it’s weird for you, but like I said, it’s temporary and there’s nothing—”

“Okay, here’s what I’m thinking,” Madison interrupted. “We use this to our advantage.”

We use this to our advantage. Once, Mollie had taken comfort in Madison’s habit of talking about the two of them as a unit. When their mom had been wasted out of her mind on the couch, Madison had assured Mollie that we were going to be just fine. When they’d had to go to their dad’s new family’s house for Christmas, Madison had promised that we’d stick together.

But lately…lately the we had felt a lot more like Madison’s agenda and the expectation that Mollie follow along blindly.

“Do I even want to know what you mean by that?” Mollie asked warily.

Kim quietly hummed the Jaws theme in the background.

“I mean that he’s using you to keep tabs on me; I can use you to keep tabs on him.”

“Why do you care?” Mollie burst out. “You divorced him, remember? You left him for another man. Another man you’re going to marry.”

“Don’t be naive, Mollie. Jackson may not be a quarterback anymore, but he still has the power to torpedo my career if he wants to.”

What career? Mollie wanted to scream. It was getting harder and harder to remember that this was the woman who’d once stayed up all night altering her old prom dress so that Mollie would have something to wear when they couldn’t afford a new gown. This was the sister who’d talked her through her first period, who’d held her hand during Mom’s funeral, who’d always been game to watch Golden Girls reruns when Mollie wasn’t feeling well.

“Actually, I can’t believe I didn’t think about this earlier,” Madison was saying. “This is perfect.”

Mollie held up her hand even though her sister couldn’t see. “Hang on. Five seconds ago you were pissed. And before you even go there, I’m not moving in to spy on him, Mad.”

“Of course not! But you can, you know, influence him. You’ve always been able to talk to him when he wouldn’t listen to anyone else.”

Mollie’s eyes narrowed. “What is it you want me to talk to him about?”

Kim hummed the Jaws sound louder.

“I just mean it would be good to know what’s going on with him. To make sure he doesn’t ruin things with me and Alec.”

Mollie rubbed her forehead. “Okay. Fine. So if I make sure Jackson doesn’t sabotage your happy ending with Alec, you’re cool with me moving in?”

“Well, I don’t know about cool,” Madison muttered. “But it would be nice to know what the guy’s up to, since he doesn’t return my calls.”

That got Mollie’s attention. “You’ve been calling him?”

Madison made a little sound, and Mollie got the impression her sister wasn’t thrilled to have let that slip. Maddie liked to be pursued. Not the other way around.

“I just wanted to check in. Make sure he was okay.”

“And he didn’t pick up?” Mollie winced at the eagerness in her own voice. It shouldn’t matter whether or not Jackson had talked to Madison. It didn’t matter…much.

Kim was making siren noises now as she folded one of Mollie’s jackets and set it in a box.

“Ugh. I don’t want to talk about this right now, Molls,” Madison snapped. “I’ve gotta run. Cindy’s ready to rinse the color out of my hair.”

“Okay,” Mollie said resignedly. “Call me later. I love you.”

The phone went dead before she finished speaking.

Mollie pulled it away and stared at it. “Good talk.”

“Babe, what the heck were you expecting? The woman’s a monster.”

“She’s not,” Mollie said automatically.

Kim gave her a look. “She slept with your boyfriend.”

Mollie swallowed. “I don’t know that for sure.”

“Right. I forgot we’re still subscribing to the theory that maybe she invited Shawn to her hotel room to talk.”

Mollie frowned a little as she realized that she didn’t feel so much as a pang at the memory of seeing her grad school boyfriend emerge from Madison’s hotel room. Not so long ago, reliving that moment had been enough to sucker-punch the breath out of her. Now she felt merely…tired.

That was it. Talking to her sister—hell, even thinking about her—made Mollie tired. She pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes. “Can we not talk about her? Please?”

Kim came over to the bed, shoving a box to the side so she could sit beside Mollie, looping an arm around her neck. “Sure, babe.” They were silent for a minute before Kim gave a big sigh and said, “You’re not really leaving me, right? For the uppers?”

Mollie smiled. Kim had a great little studio just a few blocks away from Mollie’s place on the Lower East Side. The “uppers” referred to the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan, which were more expensive than their current neighborhood. She and Kim had a long-standing joke about what life would be like when they could afford the “uppers.”

Mollie sure as hell hadn’t figured this was how she’d get there, and yet…She had no regrets. A chance to get away from Austin and his spider, a chance to be closer to her work, a heater that actually worked…