My Stepsister Moved Into the Guest Room at Thirty novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Folder

"Two years ago," I said, "before the wedding, my mother asked me to look into you."

Flora lay very still against my side.

"Look into me how?"

"Your debts. Your record. Whether you were after Harvey's money."

"Harvey doesn't have any money."

"He has a house in Oak Park and a pension."

"Mom was scared. She had been alone for nineteen years, and she'd never been this happy."

"She wanted somebody to check that nobody was lying to her."

"And she asked her daughter, the nurse."

"She asked her daughter, who is good with details."

I sat up and pulled the sheet over my chest.

My voice was steady, because I have made worse phone calls to worse families.

"I searched the county court records. I called your old landlord in Logan Square."

"I looked up Rachel, because she lived with you."

"I wrote it all on one page and put it in a folder."

"And?"

"You had no debts. No record."

"Your landlord said you were the best tenant he ever had."

"Rachel had two small claims judgments against her for unpaid rent."

Flora said nothing.

"I told my mother to relax. I told her you were fine. I didn't tell you, because then you would have known I did it."

"You kept the folder."

"It's in my desk drawer. I never threw it out. I couldn't decide if that made it better or worse."

I turned to face her, and my throat was tight.

"I'm so sorry, Flora. I'm sorry I did it, and I'm sorrier I didn't tell you."

"I should have told you at the wedding. I should have told you the night you moved in."

"Robin."

"You can be angry. You can move out. I'll explain to Mom, I'll tell her it was my fault, I'll say anything you want."

"Robin."

"I know I've ruined it."

"Stop talking," Flora said, "and look at me."

I looked.

Flora was sitting up, too, with the blanket in her lap, and she was smiling.

It was a small, tired, tender smile.

"I know about the folder," she said.

The room tilted.

"What?"

"I found it the first week."

"I was looking for a phone charger in your desk. The folder was in the bottom drawer, and my name was on the tab."

"You," I said. "You read it?"

"Every word. Your handwriting is very neat. You underlined Rachel's name twice."

"Flora."

"I was furious for about a day," she said.

"I sat on your bed and thought about packing my bags. Then I read the last line."

"What last line?"

"The one you wrote at the bottom. 'She seems kind. Tell Mom to relax.'"

I put my hand over my mouth.

I had forgotten I wrote that.

"So I waited," Flora said. "I wanted to see if you'd tell me."

"I told myself that if you ever did, I'd know what kind of person you were."

"And if I hadn't?"

"I'd have been disappointed in both of us."

She reached out and took my hand away from my face.

"You took two weeks and a very good orgasm. That's not bad."

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