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26 | FRANCESCA PE NN

Cassie’s problem. I make an appointment to do another walk-through on Monday
after all my items are gone.

I take my things to my storage and up the insurance amount. I call my sister to
tell her I was right and to have my couch ready – she lives in a one bedroom. It is
about to be a long weekend of break-up stories, but at least I am free.

My weekend goes as expected. I sit on my sister’s couch and relive her break-up

with Charles. At random moments, she shakes her tawny head and start again with
how she still can’t believe he betrayed her. We were in two different spectrums of
our relationships.
Claire was married to a guy who she’d trusted wholeheartedly and loved him
like no other. I had been rooming with a suspected snake until she finally bit me. I
can empathize about being fooled because I did take care of her for at least five
months – nine if you count the rent I’d just paid.
But, I’m not heartbroken.

When she found out about Charles, Claire’s pain was so palpable that I drove
an hour to the huge house he kicked my sister out of and punched his smug ass. A
body shot; no bruises; so, it was his word against mine. I felt a little better, and
Claire’s face was twisted in horror when he called her, but her hazel eyes lit up with
amusement.
I love my family and hate to see any of them in pain.

“What will you do about the baby?” she muses from her recliner; her small feet
are tucked under her body.
I try to shrug off the only thing that hurts about the situation.
“I’ll take care of it, if it’s mine.” I look at her, showing her the only amount of
hurt I am comfortable displaying. “I have a strong feeling it isn’t mine. You know
I didn’t trust her, but I thought it was about how she abruptly tried to be my
housewife.” I look at the wine I’m holding. “I never thought that the child I
watched grow in her belly wasn’t mine.”