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The hairs on my neck lift. “Aman.”
“Wow. Down, boy.” Lily’s foot slips and she falls off the bed, looking up at me with a mixture of irritation andamusement.
I glance at the fixture. “I’ll replace thelight."
"No. My sister thinks I’m afuckup.”
“You’re the most important thing toher.”
Lily gets up unassisted, brushing off her shorts. “Only since Vi left. They used to be best friends. But after they went to school, something changed.” She cocks her head. "She still writes, youknow."
“Vi?"
Lil looks back up at the light. "Vi sends postcards a couple of times a year. Daisy writes back, but she never sendsthem."
My chest contracts. "Because she doesn't know where Viis."
"No. I think Daisy's not over the fact that she left. She walked away from college, our family, to live out random adventures abroad. Sometimes I think that’s worse. When someone chooses to leave. At least when they die, you can tell yourself they didn’t want to go.” Lily nods toward the doorway. “I think she has a stool in herbedroom.”
I try not to think about Vi as I go retrieve the stool and set it under the light forLily.
She stands on it, unscrews the fixture, and passes me the glass bowl. "Did she tell you about the Vane wedding? She’s trying to pay for my school. That’s why she took this gig on top of everythingelse.”
“You’re in honors economics at Columbia. That’s hardwork.”
Lily grunts as she untwists the lightbulb, holding out a hand for the other one. She finishes replacing the bulb before stepping off the stool and back to the carpeted floor, setting the burnt-out bulb on her desk. “But my sister got through school without help. She started a company. She’s tough.Relentless.”
I turn that over. “When I was going through school, I wanted to pay my own way too. If there aren’t any scholarships, you need to go another route. The profs need to knowyou.”
“I don’t want to network. Networking is for assholes.” The alarm on her face has mesmiling.
“Most of them have funding for research assistant positions, or they can get it without muchtrouble.”
“Enough to covertuition?”
“Not entirely. But it’ll also help you with grad school recommendations. Give you more control of where you go, and save money down theroad.”
“How do you know so much about gettingby?”
“We didn’t always have money. We were poor until I was four. My early memories are of stretching dollars. Until I was nine or ten, we did, because we had no clue how long my mom’s gig would last. It could be the last job forher.”
“You didn’t handle that alone, though. You have a brotherright?”
I nod. “Tris’s younger. He had iteasy."
Lil’s face scrunches up. "Being younger isn't easier. By the time you come into the world, you have all your older siblings' shit to deal with too." She shakes her head. “Speaking of. I'm not the only one in the doghouse. What did my sister's fake boyfriend do to piss heroff?"
Surprise slams into me. “Daisy told you about ouragreement?”
“‘Agreement.’” Lily uses air quotes. She brushes past me, heading for thekitchen.
"Then you get why she shouldn’t be out withMarc."
Lily goes to the freezer until she spots the donuts. She abandons her plans and instead lifts the lid, nodding in approval. "What I get is that you fuckedup."
She takes a donut and bites into itsavagely.
Lily knows her sister as much as anyone. And I need to figure out a way through this so Daisy will agree to be at Xavier’sdinner.
