Page 108

“Go on,” Worth says. “I have a feeling there’s more.”

“Are you not going to tell me I’m stupid already? You want more evidence?”

Worth looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

I knew it.

He’s going to think I’m his silly little sister for the rest of our lives.

“How can I think you’re stupid for putting your happiness above business?” Worth asks.

I freeze in shock. That’s not the reaction I was expecting.

“You don’t think giving up Boston for some guy whose feelings I have no idea about is crazy?”

He sighs. “I don’t think you’re crazy at all. Love does strange things to all of us.” He grins, and I just know he’s thinking about Sophia.

“And anyway,” Worth continues, “Poppy and I wanted the Fifth Avenue site all along. I never really understood why you pushed so hard for Boston. I know it looks good on paper, but that’s not the only consideration.”

“I wanted to prove to you that I’m not a freeloader. I wanted the Boston hotel because I knew you and Poppy wouldn’t leave Manhattan often, and I would be the person who went up there all the time. Because of geography, I’d end up responsible for the success—or failure—of the entire place. That’s what I wanted.”

“You wanted to make life difficult for yourself?” he asks.

“No, I wanted you to know I was capable.”

“Avril, I would have fired you by now if you hadn’t been capable,” Worth says. “Yes, I agreed to establish Hotel on Ninth Street because of your pleas, but I agreed because I believed in you. I believed in the idea of us all having something positive to bring us together—but I wouldn’t have said yes if I thought you were going to fuck it up. I wouldn’t have put that much money on the line if I didn’t think you could make it work. Yes, you’re my sister, but you’re also clever and determined and like a dog with a freaking bone when you want something. Okay, so you have a rich brother. But I choose carefully where to invest. And I decided to invest in you. Because of your strengths, not because you’re my sister.”

“But you’ve always had to save me, Worth.”

He shakes his head. “No, Avril. That’s not true. Yes, I made sure there was dinner on the table and your clothes were clean and ironed when you were younger, but that’s just practicalities. Your mental strength saved you. I could have done all that and you still might have turned out very differently.”

“I’m a college dropout.”

“You hated your major, which I pushed you into. You’re not a flake. No one who knows you thinks you are.”

“Really?” I ask him.

“Have you ever known me to lie?” He looks me dead in the eye.

“Never.”

He shoots a look at Poppy. “Did you know how she felt?”

“Not all of it.”

“Do you feel the same way?” he asks.

Poppy pushes her lips together, and takes a beat before she answers. “I feel like I owe you an extraordinary debt. If it hadn’t been for you, I’m not sure where we would have ended up.”

Worth pulls in a breath. “But we ended up here. A family. We’re okay. There’s no debt to pay. There’s no need to be afraid that we’re going back to that place. We don’t need to worry that you’ll have to skip school when it’s Christmas sweater day because I can’t afford to buy you a sweater you’ll only wear a few times. And you don’t have to not tell me your shoes are too tight because we can’t afford new ones. And I don’t have to pretend I don’t notice. Those times are behind us.

“We all had our part to play in those days. I happened to be older, but both of you worked hard at school to not bring social services calling. You didn’t complain about having the same three meals on repeat because that’s all I could cook. It was bad. For all of us. And now it’s not.”

A mixture of emotion rises in my chest. It’s grief that I didn’t have the childhood I read about in books, it’s gratitude that I have a brother like Worth who had the determination and dedication to get us through those times, and it’s pride that we did it together. He’s right. We all had our part to play.

“I’m proud of you,” he says. “You too, Poppy. And I’m proud of me. We make a great team, which is part of the reason this hotel is as successful as it is.”

“Does this mean I can trash the Boston spreadsheet?” Poppy asks. “Are we set on Fifth Avenue?”