Mia says, “Good. Because I think there’s something you can do that would benefit the both of you.” I eye her skeptically, hearing the plotting in her tone. What the hell is she up to? “You need to move back to California and let Leighton live with you.”
Leighton and I both snap to attention, saying, “What?” simultaneously.
Mia’s smile widens. Gordy chokes out a laugh and tries covering it with a cleared throat when I shoot him a look. “It’s perfect. You’ll come back home and give Lenny a place to stay. You two were always closer than the rest of us.”
I blink at her, gaping most likely. It isn’t like I wouldn’t give the shirt off my back for Leighton, but moving back here right now? Moving someone in with me after all this time of having my own space? It doesn’t seem like the best idea, not that my sister has had many of them. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I have my own life back in New York. Why wouldn’t you offer one of your rooms here? You’ve got plenty of space.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice the black-haired girl in question wince and sink into her chair. I realize what she must think of my response and flinch myself. “Lele, it isn’t that I don’t want you in my space. I promise I’m not trying to be a jerk.”
“To answer your question, I’m starting season three of my show in two weeks. You know, the one where they follow me around everywhere? The producers already have a solid narrative and adding Leighton to the mix will change everything. Last I checked, you’ve been all about Lenny’s privacy. I agreed to that then, and I still do. So, unless you’re both interested in being permanent features on my TV show—”
“No.” The snap from me is instant. The last thing I want to do is become some damn pawn for reality TV, and that doubles for Leighton. No, fucking thank you. Mia’s show The Casanova’s started over two years ago as a new venture for her “acting” career. Her husband and my mother may be fine with being followed around and asked questions but I’m not. Never have been. So, when she invited me to be part of it, even just to make cameos here and there, I almost always refused. It’s one of the biggest reasons I stopped visiting on holidays because they’d shoot specials with the family to see how they spent them together and get into everyone’s business.
Hard pass.
“That’s what I thought,” she concludes.
Moving here though? Making Leighton move in with me? She’s technically an adult in the eyes of the law, which means she can make her own decisions and I won’t force her to choose something based on me. Wait— “Did you graduate high school?” My mind storms with a list of to-dos thinking about what I’d have to do if she moved in. I’d have to put her back in Saint Michael’s, get her new uniforms, probably help her with homework like before—
Lenny nibbles her bottom lip. “Sort of.”
I cock my head, eyes narrowing into inquisitive slits to study her. “What does ‘sort of’ mean? How can somebody ‘sort of’ graduate high school?”
There’s a pause, a hitch in her breath, before her body gets tight. “I got my GED last year. Mom needed my help, so I missed a lot of classes and they were threatening to hold me back. I didn’t want that, so I dropped out.”
She dropped out of high school?
“Christ,” I murmur for the millionth time, combing my fingers through my hair. It’s a good thing my late grandmother, a very catholic woman, isn’t here or I’d have brain damage from her smacking me upside the head over taking the Lord’s name in vain. Sorry Nana.
Leighton’s smart. When she moved here the first time, she was sent to a prep school not far from our place. Saint Michael’s had it all. Uniforms. Rich pricks. Admittedly good food. The works. I also know she hated every second of it, and if nothing else, she was probably glad moving away meant not being forced to keep going. Though both Mia and I had offered to help her out if she wanted to stay.
Saint Michael’s is a great school for people who want bright futures like Lenny always did. It would have been worth her while sticking it out, dealing with the assholes, and getting the kind of recommendations she would have needed to move onto bigger and better things.
Leighton didn’t accept the help, though. Not the money, the support, not anything. The thing about Lenny is that she’s blindly, stubbornly loyal. That loyalty became faulty. There has never been a doubt in her mind that she’d follow her mother anywhere even if it meant sacrificing everything she had going for her. It makes me hate the woman, dead or not, even more, and I don’t care what that says about me.
I blow out a breath. “What do you want?”
She seems taken aback by the question, so I let her think about it. Really think. I’m not sure she’s ever had the opportunity to choose for herself, so I want her to have a say.
So, the words that come out of her mouth don’t surprise me. “I don’t want to be a burden.”
Mia sighs dramatically. “I’ve told her like a million times that she’s never going to be one, but she won’t listen.”
“Again, I agree with Mia.” Though it physically hurts me to say.
“Which doesn’t happen often,” Mia points out cheerfully, as if reading my mind.
“And won’t happen again,” I warn. My sister doesn’t seem to believe me, but I ignore her for the time being to focus on the person who does matter right now. “So, what is it that you want? Don’t worry about being a burden to anyone. You never were.”
I’m sure some people, namely her mother, would dispute that. Maybe even Harry when she first showed up. It’s not my fault he sank his dick into so many women he couldn’t figure out if he’d fathered any other children besides us. Leighton grew on him, though. Even after asking her and her mother to leave, he’d ask Mia about her. The old man barely asks about me. That means something.
The way her eyes stay locked on her lap tells me she isn’t sure what she wants. I get it. Her life has been derailed more times than she can count thanks to her mother—hell, thanks to us too. It’s sad she died, but Leighton is better off, not that I’ll ever tell her as much.
“Do you plan on attending college?” I pry, eyeing the way she jerks like I slapped her. I used to help her study for tests, proofed her assignments, and quizzed her before exams. She’s far smarter than I ever was in school. There’s no reason she shouldn’t go to college with the grades she used to get, especially considering she’s mentioned her interest in getting a degree a time or two in the past.
“I still want to go,” she murmurs, rubbing her arm. “I’m just not sure it’s in the books for me anymore.”
“That’s bull,” my sister pipes up. “Come on, Lenny, you used to talk about going to Stanford all the time. Remember? We even took you to tour the campus. It’s all you talked about for months afterward.”
When she remains silent, I know something is wrong. “Mia, Gordy, can I talk to her alone for a few minutes?”
They both share a look before nodding at me, scraping their chairs back. My sister says they’ll be out on the back deck when we’re ready, though I can see the wheels turning in Leighton’s head like she’s planning her escape. Serious talks have never been her thing, but too damn bad.