My Brother Gave Her My Place, So I Stopped Coming Home novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: A Seat at the Table
Every face in the lobby turned to me.
"What's yours," I said, "isn't mine to give, and it isn't something you can take."
Janie's chin lifted.
"My father gave you a room and a car. He can't give you my work, and he can't give you my name. You never needed to blackmail anyone for a chair."
"Then what do I get?"
"A seat at my table. I'll tell you the terms in private."
I held out my hand.
She stared at it for a long time. Then she walked past it, off the stage and through a side door behind the bar.
I followed her into the service corridor.
It smelled of floor wax and cut lemons, and the party noise came through the wall in a muffled hum.
Janie stood with her back against the tile and her arms folded.
"Go on," she said. "Make the speech."
"There's no speech. There are three terms."
"Of course there are."
"One. You don't call another reporter, and you don't say another word about this family unless you tell me first."
"Two?"
"Two. You draw something. Your own, not mine. A porch, a garden shed, anything. You bring it to the back room of the frame shop in a month, and I'll tell you what's wrong with it. Honestly."
"And three?"
"Three. You don't call me sister until you mean it."
She looked at me for a long time.
"That's all?"
"No chair at Sunday dinner. You have to earn that, too. Dylan will fight me on it. Mom will cry."
A laugh broke out of her, short and wet.
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