then burning hot.
I started walking toward them before I even realized I had decided to move.
As I got closer, Mike looked up.
He stood quickly.
The woman lifted her head.
And in that instant, everything I thought I understood shattered.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded, pointing at her.
Mike raised his hands. “Calm down. I can explain.”
I stopped in front of them. “Can you?”
The woman slowly sat upright.
Her mascara was smudged. Her eyes were red.
And for a brief, strange moment…
she looked almost pleased to see me.
I turned back to Mike. “You’re meeting my sister in secret, and your first line is ‘I can explain’?”
“It’s not what you think.”
I let out a laugh—sharp, humorless. “Then tell me what I think.”
People nearby had started to notice.
A couple slowed their walk. A woman with a stroller turned to watch.
Mike lowered his voice. “Please don’t do this here.”
“Oh, now you’re worried about the location?”
Claire stood and moved beside him. “He’s been helping me.”
I shot her a look. “I wasn’t asking you.”
She lifted her chin. “You should be. I told him what you did.”
I stared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“To me. To our grandmother’s inheritance. To all of it.”
