21. Just No!
JUST NO!
CAIN
“ I don’t have time for this,” I snap when I see Paula at my door. Since she’s not allowed into Ripley’s, she comes to my apartment now.
“Come on, Cain, you really don’t have time for your sister?”
She shows up like this, all the fucking time. Without warning, with an attitude that grates like nails on a chalkboard.
It’s late, I’ve just finished closing out the books for Ripley’s, and I’m halfway into a beer, and the last thing I need is to see my sister with her smug smile, which, granted, is frayed a little with the edges cracked.
I step back without inviting her in.
She follows, shutting the door with some force as if it’s to blame for her being a completely spoiled bitch.
“I need help,” she announces.
I sit on the sofa where I was working and pick up my beer. I take a long draw and ask, patiently, “With what?”
She flops on an armchair and sighs like I’m inconveniencing her by making her say it aloud. “Money. Jobs are scarce, and Melody and I?—”
“Still living together?” I cut in, feeling a flare of anger.
She huffs, giving a dramatic tilt of her head. “She’s my best friend.”
“ And her parents kicked her out of their house.”
She and Melody had rented an apartment in a new complex, which I knew they couldn’t afford.
See, Faith believes no one is going to help her, so she lives within her means. Meanwhile, my sister and Melody are looking for a handout.
“It’s not easy, Cain. No one wants to hire us.”
“That’s because everyone knows you have a loose relationship with ethics.” Even I won’t call my sister a bitch to her face, no matter how true a characterization it is.
Her eyes narrow. “You’re gonna choose her over your own sister?”
I don’t pretend not to know who she meant when she said her.
“I’m not choosing a person, Paula, I’m choosing not to enable you.”
Paula’s mouth twitches. “Everyone knows you’re sleeping with her. I guess integrity’s flexible when you’re horny.”
That does it. I slam my beer down on the coffee table and stand up.
“If you want to tear someone down, Paula, go find a mirror,” I say gruffly, exhausted with my sister’s drama. “Now, get out.”
She crosses her arms and pouts, like she’s still got the upper hand. “She’s going to use you.”
“No,” I say, voice low. “That’s what you and Melody did. Faith’s got more integrity in her little finger than you’ve shown in your entire life. She works. She earns her living. She doesn’t steal from her family. She doesn’t manipulate people who love her.”
Paula scoffs—pure reflex.
However, she realizes arrogance isn’t getting her anywhere, so she shifts gears, softens her tone, and reaches for emotional blackmail instead. “We’re pariahs now, Cain. I can’t get through a day without someone calling me names under their breath.”
“Then now you know how you made Faith feel.”
That shuts her up.
I let out a long breath, steadying myself. I’m not going to lose my temper—neither my sister nor Melody is worth that kind of energy. “I didn’t press charges, Paula. That was me being generous. I’ve got no more left to give.”
She opens her mouth. Closes it again. Something in her face crumbles for a second, but I don’t let it in.
“You should go.”
“Cain, I need money. Rent is due and…do you want me to be homeless?”
“I know for sure that Macy offered you a job.”
Macy owns two grocery stores, one in Silverton and one in Bethany.
“You want me to work at a checkout counter?” She looks appalled.
“It’s honest work.”
She looks at me like I kicked her puppy. “How can you treat me like this?”
“You’re twenty-five years old, sis, you need to stand on your own two feet. I can’t support you.”
“But you have so much money,” she points out.
“I have enough . And it’s my money. I earned it.”
“I’m your sister.” She stands, her chest puffed up. “I have a right to it.”
Christ. Who the hell is this girl? How did she grow up under the same roof and turn into this?
My dad spent his whole life grinding as a real estate manager. My mom taught second grade for thirty years, the kind of woman who brought her own paper supplies when the school budget ran dry. We were raised to work hard, to earn what we wanted. No shortcuts. No free rides.
I should’ve listened to my parents when they warned me, over and over, not to be Paula’s crutch. But I kept telling myself she’d grow out of it. She was just young. Just finding herself.
But one year bled into the next, and now… I’m looking at my sister, and can’t recognize her.
“Sell some of the shit that Melody and you bought with the ten grand you stole,” I suggest.
“We can’t,” she cries out. “Mel paid off her credit card debt…it was…she bought makeup and things. We can’t sell anything, Cain.”
“She bought what for ten thousand dollars?” I am incredulous.
She looks chagrined. “Make-up is expensive.”
I shake my head. “ Whatever ! Like I said, I’ve got no money to give you. Accept Macy’s offer. Or find another job. Live in a smaller apartment.”
“It is small. Just two bedrooms.”
I look at her with a furrowed brow, considering. “Paula, you’re a grown-up. You’re on your own.”
She bursts into tears. “Can you ask Mom and Dad to help? They sold the house. They made money. They can give me some.”
The corners of my eyes twitch in exasperation. “Paula, you gotta earn a living, girl.”
“I hate you,” she flings at me and then runs out.
This is exactly how she acted ten years ago. Like she’s frozen in time, trapped in some emotional time loop—stunted, clinging to her teenage self. Still, she’s my sister, and I love her. I don’t like her very much right now, but I feel responsible for her.
My heart aches for her.
My parents blame Melody, think she’s the rot that crept into Paula’s roots.
And maybe they’re right. As the only child of much older parents, Melody was coddled—never disciplined, never challenged.
Now, her parents are in their seventies, and they don’t have the strength or the will to deal with her anymore. They want out.
“We want to sell the house and move somewhere warmer—like your parents,” Mr. Brand told me over the phone when everything went down. “But…she’s still here.”
“Sir, you’ve got to take care of yourselves,” I advised. “She’s an adult. Let her live like one.”
From the background, I heard Mrs. Brand’s voice crack: “That’s what I keep telling him.”
So, when my parents listed their house, the Brands followed suit. Melody’s childhood home sold faster than ours, and they were gone within a month, relieved, I think, to finally be free of the daughter who spent her life manipulating them.
“Cain, Cain.” I hear my name being yelled out as I walk to my truck.
Faith finishes her shift at nine on Mondays, because she starts earlier. I’ve set it up so Georgia closes Ripley’s on Mondays, giving me time to pick Faith up and drop her off at her place. I do that every day she works. I pick her up and drop her off. It’s a ritual to start and end my day.
Right now, I want to rush to her.
I need some peace after that disturbing conversation with Paula. I need my sweet thing.
I turn and groan when I see Melody run up to me.
She’s in running clothes. Obviously designer wear. Christ!
“Melody, I don’t have time for this. Paula was here with her palm stretched out, and I said no. I’m sayin’ no to you as well.”
Melody smiles warmly. “I know. I’m not here for… that .”
“Then what?”
She makes doe eyes. Juts her tits out in her sports bra.
I cringe.
Does she really think this is going to work?
“Look, I just…I want us to be friends again. I’m sorry about what happened. I should’ve never gone along with Paula. I know that but?—”
“Melody, you and Paula cooked that shit up together. Don’t lay the blame on her. You’re the one who spent the money.”
She flutters her eyelashes. “Come on, Cain, you have so much, and it was just ten grand.”
“Just ten grand?” I shake my head, disgusted as hell. “That’s a shit ton of money, Melody. That’s five months’ rent for Ripley’s. I struggled to make payroll for a few months after you stole from me.”
Who does she think we are? The fucking Rockefellers?
Her features soften with tenderness. It’s fake.
“I’m sorry, Cain.” She comes closer, into my personal space.
I step back. “For fuck’s sake, Melody. I’m not interested in you. I haven’t been for years. We slept together a couple of times three years ago.”
“You’re the best I’ve ever had, Cain.” She now puts her hands on my chest. “And I know I’m the best you’ve ever had.”
I grab her wrists, set her aside. “ Don’t touch me .”
Something ugly flashes in her eyes. “Are you fucking that low life again? Is that it? You need dirty pussy to get it up?”
My breath catches in my throat at her poison. I lean down, arms tense, jaw set. I give her a withering look.
She has the decency to step away.
“I wish I could keep your toxicity away from my sister, but that ship has sailed. Don’t come near me ever again. If you do, I’ll go to Lo and have you arrested.”
“If I go down, I take your sister with me,” she spits out.
“The way I feel, Melody, you can both rot in hell.”