Hu Gh:I have a few questions for Goggle. I can just put them in here.
Jade Clark:NO. Please. The last time wasbad enough.
I was aboutto take a bite of the best burrito I’d ever made when my front door opened.
“Come in,” I said to the only other person who had the key. “I wasn’t in the middle of anything.”
My sister stormed into the living room. Her light, wavy hair was a mess, and she looked like she’d just woken up. I was used to random drop-ins from her ever since she’d moved to Nashville, but this was early for her.
“Ihatethem. I hate them so much!”
I set down my burrito with a sigh. Only my sister would drive three hours to complain about roommates, but I was the only one who would listen, and she liked to do things in person so no one could hang up on her.
When she moved to Nashville two months ago to pursue her dream of singing, I thought this would stop. But she’d been having issues with both her waitressing job and her two roommates. She’d switched jobs many times, but was stuck with the women.
Few people could tolerate Brooke like I could. When she lived here, she was the bane of the town’s existence. Not once in her life had she been able to take no for an answer. She was rude, callous, and unkind to pretty much everyone she met. Many people had told me that it felt like she thought she was above all of them simply because she had big dreams to move out of this small town.
People wondered how I was able to deal with her. Hell, even I wondered how I did it, but Brooke was my only family, and I loved her.
Even if she interrupted my delicious breakfast.
She would be here to bitch about her roommates, get some home-cooked food from me, and then return to Nashville.
“What happened?” I asked.
“They all think that I should do everything around theapartment to ‘pull my weight.’ As if they pull their own! No one does the dishes. Why do I have to do them for everyone?”
That was ... actually a reasonable reason to be angry.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s a lot to put on someone. Why don’t I make you some tea to calm down?”
“I don’t need to calm down. I need them to respect me.” She stomped to the kitchen and I let out a long breath.
I checked the clock. I didn’t have the time to spare for a tirade from Brooke, but I heard from her so rarely that I knew I needed to be here for her.
“So, that’s a no on the tea?”
She scoffed and shoved a mug at me. That answered my question.
“I can’t wait until I’m famous and have my own place,” she said as I heated some water.
Despite her unannounced arrival, it was nice to have a second person in the kitchen. When Mom left the house to me, I thought Brooke and I would be sharing it for a long time. The two of us, even with how loud she was, still never felt like it truly filled the space. We’d grown up in a split-level family home. The kitchen flowed into a den that was made for hosting parties, and there were more than enough bedrooms.
It was too much for me.
In many ways.
As I grabbed the mug to add a tea bag, I ignored the stain that had been on the countertops for years. The house had a lot of cosmetic things wrong with it. It needed work that I didn’t have the time or money to do. Mom must have been a superwoman to find time to work and keep up on this place.
Still, I’d never get rid of it. The wood-toned cabinets were familiar in the most comforting way. I knew every creak of the floor, every noise that the home made.
Brooke sat at the dining room table, which was rightoff the kitchen. The table was uneven and nearly tipped over. “Jesus, are you ever gonna fix this thing?”
It was on my list, but I knew the truth. I was way too overwhelmed to ever get to it.
People in the town would probably help, but I made a name for myself helping them andnotthe other way around. I couldn’t imagine ever letting them return the favor. Mom had been the same way, always self-sustaining.
Brooke was not.