Friends and Strangers - J. Courtney Sullivan Page 0,21

what she did as a business before.

“How?” she asked.

“I wasn’t going to tell anyone until it was official,” Charlotte said. “But I’m negotiating a huge sponsorship deal with Enthusium.”

“What’s that?” Elisabeth said.

“Diet pills.”

“You’re taking diet pills?”

“God no. They’re for desperate fat people. I’m like the aspirational after photo.”

“But you’ll have to say you’re taking them.”

“Sure. My point is I need the money sooner than the deal is going to go through. I figured what’s the harm in asking Daddy for it. It wouldn’t even count as taking his money. It would just be a loan. Once I get this sponsorship, I can pay him right back.”

“Don’t do that,” Elisabeth said. “You’ll figure it out. If you’re this far in debt, what’s the harm in waiting another month or two to pay off your credit card bill?”

“It might be longer than a month or two. Amex is sending debt collectors to my door. It’s bad. I could lose everything. Gossip travels fast on a small island. Can you imagine what that would do to my brand?”

“Your brand?”

“I need this weight off my shoulders,” Charlotte said. “I’ve made my decision. I thought I should give you a heads-up before I call him.”

Elisabeth’s heart pounded. She had gone to great lengths to ensure that her father had no control over her. That was for her own sake. But her need for Charlotte to do the same, Elisabeth knew—that was about punishing him. She didn’t want to give it up.

“Let me loan you the money,” she said.

Charlotte sniffled. “Really?”

Elisabeth wired the full amount to her the next day, already doubting the decision.

The savings account had had just over three hundred thousand in it—whenever she thought of that, Elisabeth had felt a sense of safety and pride that she had done it on her own. She handed almost all of it over to her sister.

To stay calm, she reminded herself that it was a loan. But two years had passed. The sponsorship deal had yet to happen. Every time Elisabeth asked her about it, Charlotte said they were working out the final details.

In her darkest moments, Elisabeth scoured every comment on her sister’s social media accounts to try and find some clue that revealed how soon the money was coming.

Meanwhile, Charlotte borrowed even more. Small amounts, mostly, but they added up. Car payments, rent checks. A three-hundred-dollar restaurant bill when some jerk ran out on her without paying after they’d had a fight.

When she agreed to lend her the money, Elisabeth had no idea that Andrew was about to quit his job. His salary had paid for their living expenses, for IVF, and co-op fees. For everything, really. When they first got together, she sold her single-girl apartment and they bought their place in Brooklyn, which turned out to be a great investment. They were able to buy the new house outright with what they sold it for.

But being a person was expensive. Neither of them was earning much of anything at the moment. Elisabeth was stressed about money in a way she hadn’t been since she started refusing her father’s. The savings account dipped closer to zero with every dinner out, every grocery order, the sort of expenses she never would have thought twice about when Andrew was in his old job.

He had no idea what their life cost. No clue what she had spent over the years on linens and rugs and furniture and dishes, all the details that added up to an appealing home.

They were accustomed to living a certain way. She couldn’t give up the organic berries, the cage-free omega-3 eggs, the good coffee, the cruelty-free dish soap that was three times the price of Dawn. Even if she could give them up, if she made drastic changes, Andrew might suspect.

Elisabeth hadn’t bought anything nice for herself in ages. When her high-end skin-care products from Bloomingdale’s ran out, she replaced them with creams and serums from CVS. She didn’t think they worked nearly as well, but it was possible that was in her head. She had an unworn Theory dress hanging on a clothing rack in the laundry room with the tags still on. She was saving it in case of emergency, should she need something new she could no longer afford.

She told her sister they were low on cash. But she added that Charlotte should keep coming to her if she really needed to. Charlotte kept coming.

Elisabeth still hadn’t told Andrew about the loan. He thought they had