the punishment as fair, and not beat herself up for being an asshole since it seemed to run in the family.
So, she carried her laptop into the kitchen, made herself a cup of coffee, then called the bank in Sweetwater, got the info she needed to donate money to Gracie's fund, and transferred five thousand dollars into the account. Gracie wouldn't know where it came from, but Daphne needed to know she'd done it to be able to live with herself.
And once that was over, she began pulling up the email on her listings. Life had happened, and now it was time to participate in it again.
Joel and Mamie were still feeling their way back to a semblance of normal, but right now it all felt fake.
Mamie was overdoing the considerate wife role, and Joel was unusually silent. She was afraid to talk about the elephant in the room, for fear Joel would have made a decision about her she couldn't live with.
She didn't want to lose him. She adored him, and he was already all broken in just the way she liked it. Or at least he had been, until she'd shattered his image of her.
As for Joel, he hadn't gotten over what had happened to Gracie. In his whole life, he had never known someone could suffer to that extent and not die. She was as broken as a soul could be and still be functioning, and they were all responsible.
His conscience hurt, and every time he looked at Mamie, he was shattered by the reality of who she'd shown herself to be. If she would abandon her own sister when the going got rough, what would she do to him if they suddenly lost everything? Would she be the kind of wife who would stand by her man, in sickness and in health, or would she jump ship on him? He had to decide if they were going to work on this together or go their separate ways.
"We have a situation," Joel said.
Mamie burst into tears.
"Don't leave me. I will die."
Joel rolled his eyes.
"No, you won't, and tears won't solve any of this. But I don't know how to fix us. Are you willing to go to couples counseling?"
"Yes, yes! I'll do anything you say!" Mamie cried.
"This isn't about pleasing me, Mamie. It's about the lies."
Mamie shivered. "I never thought about it like that."
"Secrets are lies. You don't keep serious stuff from someone you are supposed to love."
"But I do love you," Mamie wailed.
"Maybe...but you loved yourself more, and now I don't know whether I should trust you with the rest of my life."
Mamie's tears dried up so fast it made Joel blink.
"I guess I don't know what to say about that," she snapped.
"Which is why I'm suggesting counseling. Are you in or not?"
"I'm in," Mamie said. "But I don't want to ever hear you say that again."
"Fine," Joel said. "But now that you know I'm thinking it, I won't have to."
Mamie wanted to be mad again, but instinct told her to suck it up and play nice or hunt herself up a lawyer. And she really, really didn't want to lose her husband.
Unaware of her ex-siblings' drama, Gracie was in survival mode, in the process of starting from scratch to house and feed herself again.
She dressed in a pair of her black Walmart slacks, a red knit shirt, and slipped on her old sandals. With her dark hair down and lip gloss her only makeup, she left the motel for the leasing company, following the GPS app on her phone, going up and down the winding streets until she reached the address.
She entered the office, hopeful.
The receptionist smiled. "Good afternoon. Can I help you?"
"I'm Gracie Dunham. Sam Wainwright is expecting me."
And then a man came up the hall with a smile on his face and his hand out. He reminded Gracie of a professor she'd had in college. She'd liked the professor. She was still reserving judgment on Sam.
"Good to meet you, Gracie. I'm Sam. Are you ready to go for a ride?"
"Yes. And thank you for remembering me. Finding a decent, furnished apartment appears to be next to impossible here."
"Oh...hey...my job is to help people find homes. I still had your info and didn't think it would hurt to let you know. Furnished apartments are not a common commodity," he said, then glanced back at his receptionist. "We're going to look at some properties. Call if you need me," he said, then escorted Gracie out