Chapter 15: Live

The morning show went live at seven.

I watched the first minutes on a monitor in a corridor, with Torsten on one side of me and my aunt on the other.

She had come down from Scranton on the night bus with a canvas bag and her good coat.

She held my hand with both of hers.

On the screen, Lydia sat on a white couch in cream knitwear with a tissue in her fist.

The host leaned toward her.

"You lost your parents at nine," she said.

"And now you've lost your family again."

"It's been the worst week of my life," Lydia said.

Her eyes were wet.

She was very good at it.

"Kerensa was my sister for nineteen years. I loved her. I still do. But since the gala she's been going after everything I have left."

"What do you mean?"

"Look," Lydia said.

The studio screen lit up behind her.

It was the yellow kitchen in Scranton, from above.

It was me, with my aunt's hands on my face.

I was crying.

The audio was clear.

"She found my mother's sister before I could," Lydia said, in a small voice.

"That's the only family I've got left. She's trying to take that, too."

My aunt's grip on my fingers went tight.

"That little liar," she said, very quietly.

"Stay here," Torsten said.

"No."

I took the memory card out of his jacket pocket.

He let me.

I walked down the corridor with my heels loud on the concrete.

A young man in a headset stepped into my path.

"Ma'am, you can't go in. We're live."

"I'm Ms. Wren," I said.

"Your producer asked for my comment last night. I'm giving it."

He looked at the card in my hand, then at the clock, and stepped aside.

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