No Matter, You Don't Have to Wait for Me novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Sweet Fish

The suite on the eleventh floor of the Brooklyn Harbor had a view of the bridge and two armchairs by the window.

Gemma sat in one of them with the cat in her lap, still wearing her coat.

She had not said anything since the lobby.

Donovan had put her bag on the luggage rack, shown the cat where the bathroom was, and left without a word.

Ten minutes later a room service cart arrived with a note: Compliments of the house. Nobody has to talk.

Under the silver covers were two bowls of soup, a basket of bread, and a long white plate with a piece of fish on it.

Gemma took one look at the plate and burst out crying again.

"Oh, no," I said. "I'm so sorry. I'll send it back."

"No." She was laughing as she cried. "No, it's perfect. It's your fish. The sweet one."

"I think it's the one he crossed out."

"I hate it." She wiped her face on the cat. "I've hated it for six years. I'm going to eat the whole thing out of spite."

She did.

We sat on the carpet with the cart between us, and she ate my favorite fish with a fork in one hand and the other hand in the cat's fur.

"It's good," she admitted. "It's really good. I'd have liked it if he hadn't made me pretend not to."

"Pretend?"

"He used to say, don't like her things, Gemma, it makes her feel crowded."

I put down my spoon.

"I never said that."

"I know. I knew you hadn't. I just didn't want to be the one to make you sad." She took a breath. "That's not a nice thing to say about someone's brother, but I think he was keeping the two of us apart on purpose. Not mean. Just tidy."

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