Once and Again - By Lauren Dane Page 0,32

I didn’t when we were kids and I don’t now. I don’t have to answer to you about any of this.” If Nancy had had a purse, Lily would have been worried her sister helped herself to whatever she took a liking to. But she didn’t and Lily would lock her door from now on.

“You think you’re better than me. Went off to Atlanta and got yerself a diploma. It don’t make you special. Some of us had to make our way a lot earlier. They paid for your fancy school so you could come back here and curl your lip and judge me. You got everything handed to you. And you’re too selfish to help out your flesh and blood. I bet you’ve given those Murphys money. But not me.”

Unbelievable! Something just broke and all her anger, all the things she’d bitten back over the years began to bubble up.

But as usual, Nancy didn’t listen to anything Lily said and the warning she’d given when she walked in had gone right over her head.

“I think you like it when you get to feel superior over other folks. You’re slumming here on purpose. Why else? Mom’s useless and Chris is going to be a loser. You pretend to be the good daughter but where is all your love for your own father? You can’t stand it that he loves me best. That’s why you like the Murphys. They’re low-rent trash and you love that, don’t you?”

“You are a selfish, hateful bitch. I’ve never in my life met anyone more petty and vicious than you are.” Lily had to shove her hands in her pockets before she fisted one and punched her sister in the nose.

“Fuck you, Lily. I’m your sister and you can’t even help me? Who’s the selfish one?” Nancy’s chin jutted out.

“For years I’ve taken your crap. I’ve loaned you so much money it’s not even funny. I’ve let you stay in my house, borrow my car. You’ve never once even said thank you! I’m done. You hear me, Nancy? I am done taking any shit from you. Leave me alone or we can go to it. But you’ll lose because you don’t even care. You don’t even care what you’re arguing with me about. You just want to argue for the sake of it. Because you’re lonely and bored.”

Her sister’s face hardened. “I’m lonely? You have no life at all. Shouldn’t you be married by now? With a passel of kids that you can lord over everyone? But you can’t because no one loves you. You got no man and you got no friends. So you come back here and take care of Chris and take credit.”

“What happened to you, Nancy? What happened when we were kids to make you this way? If this is what being Dad’s favorite gets you, I’m grateful he loves you best. Or that you think he does. Because deep down you know he loves himself and his pecker. You’re a distant choice after other women and his own business. Maybe that’s why you like to screw married men.”

“I never!”

“Bullshit.”

“You can’t handle the truth, Lily. If we start talking truth, you’ll be sorry.”

Lily laughed, even as she wanted to cry at what she knew was inevitable. “Bring it the fuck on! Let’s go. You’re a stranger to the truth, Nancy. Why don’t you build a life? Make some friends whose husbands you won’t fuck while their backs are turned? Make a life for yourself that’s more than just one breakup to the next. Now get your ass out of my place and don’t come back.”

“I could make trouble for you with Mom.”

“You’re certainly the kind of person who would use her family to hurt each other because it amused you. Nicely though, I have legal papers both Mom and Dad signed. I’m Chris’s guardian. I make the decisions where he’s concerned and I don’t need your permission for anything. Dad’s too busy with his teenage whore and you’re too self-obsessed. Mom’s having a hard enough time of this. If you hurt her, I will come after you. I’m not the same girl you used to casually abuse. Don’t you fuck with me, or I will end you.”

The way her sister’s face paled was a balm to her annoyance. Lily didn’t usually act like this, but it felt so good she wondered why she’d hesitated.

She really had no idea where she was going, just that it was away from Nancy and Petal for