“Finding out how expensive my sister’s fictional breakup was.”
Transfers filled the screen.
$800.
$1,200.
$600.
$1,500.
Adam leaned over me. “That’s only us.”
Exactly.
Your aunt is already raising my blood pressure.
I called Claire. “How much have you given Donna since Eric left?”
A pause. “Maybe four thousand. Why?”
“Did she tell you not to mention it?”
Another pause.
“Oh.”
That’s only us.
We called Mom and Dad. “How much have you given Donna?”
Mom hesitated. “Rent. Utilities. Her car.”
“And the debts?”
“Those too.”
Dad cut in. “She told us you girls couldn’t help.”
There it was.
Rent. Utilities. Her car.
Donna had told each of us the same lie: nobody else was helping.
My daughter had uncovered one lie.
I’d just uncovered the rest.
We weren’t paying Eric’s debts. We were financing Donna’s lie from four directions.
But one question still bothered me: How had Mia known Donna was lying in the first place?
I’d just uncovered the rest.
***
That evening, I sat beside Mia. “Sweetheart, how did you know Eric didn’t cheat?”
She hesitated. “I heard Aunt Donna talking to him.”
“When?”
“That day I stayed at her apartment while you had your doctor’s appointment. She thought I was asleep.”
“What did you hear?”
How had Mia known Donna was lying?
“She was yelling at him. He said, ‘Stop telling everyone I cheated. You know why I left.’”
My stomach tightened. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She caught me listening afterward. She made me promise I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
“And you kept that promise?”
Mia looked down. “Until she said those things about me.”
Stop telling everyone I cheated.
