Page 17 of The Favorite Sister

Now it’s my turn to sit up straighter.Let’s!“I had a conversation with one of my investors last night. About funding the trip. Whatever we need. Travel, lodging, transportation. We’re totally covered.”

“Is bigdaddysingle?” Lauren bats her eyelashes.

“Back off,” Lisa says. “It’s Greenberg who’s in dire need of rebound D.”

Jen turns a livid red.

“Wow, Laur.” I fold my arms across my chest, glowering at her. “That’s really sexist that you would just assume my investor is a man.” An awkward hush falls over the room, and I let everyone stew in it a good long while. “Just kidding.” I stretch my arms over my head with a leisurely yawn. “He’s totally an old white dude from Texas.”

Everyone but Jen laughs.

“Can we focus, please?” Lisa squeaks. Lisa is pushing fifty but has the voice of an eleven-year-old choirboy and this manages to make her all the more terrifying. There is something deeply disturbing about being told that you’re about to become so irrelevant even your own grandchildren won’t remember your name by a woman who sounds like Pinocchio, which is something Lisa said to Hayley when we went to Anguilla to shoot her new control-top swimsuit line. You haven’t lived until Lisa has eviscerated you in an exotic location.

Lisa slaps the page of her production packet. “Morocco,” she says, impatiently. “We are thinking last week of June. We start filming June first so that’s enough time for everyone to get their feet wet, work through their shit”—she points her pen atme—“and come together for a big, bleeding-heart getaway. My rough understanding is that we start the trip in Marrakesh, and then head out to one of these villages in the mountains.”

Kelly raises her hand, as though she is in school. Lisa calls on her, playing along. “Yes, Miss Courtney?”

“Layla has become pen pals with a girl in the village of Aguergour. She’s one of our top sellers on the shop. I thought it would be a nice moment for the two of them to meet in person.”

There is silence all around, mine sharpest. This is the first I’ve heard of Layla’spen pal. Kelly learns fast. She always has.

Jen, of all people, is the one to say, “That sounds like a really powerful moment.” But then she keeps talking. “The thing is, I don’t think I can go in good faith. The CDC recommends a hepatitis A vaccination for Morocco, the makers of which are on PETA’s list of companies that test on animals. They use baby bunny rabbits.” Her chin quivers.

Lisa holds her hand up to silence me, though I haven’t spoken. “Is that right?”

Jen dips her finger into a tub of lip balm free of parabens, sulfates, and phthalates and dots it on. That was a quick recovery—from almost crying over the baby bunny rabbits to an act of personal grooming. “But just because I can’t make it doesn’t mean it’s not a great idea.” She smiles at me, like she had to grease her lips just to get them to do that.

Now Lauren raises her hand. “I hate to pile on,” she says. “But we’re in app development for the new version of SADIE that’s tailored for the LGBTQ community. My CEO is worried about me going to a country that prosecutes gays and lesbians for their sexuality.”

Lisa works her pen between her thumb and index finger, index and middle, holding Lauren accountable in a thousand-yard stare. “Weren’t you in Dubai over the holidays?”

Lauren dips her finger into Jen’s tub of lip balm. “For one night.” She rubs her lips together. “You can’t fly direct to the Maldives.”

I snort. “And where do the Maldives stand on gay and lesbian rights?”

Lauren gapes, opening and closing her shiny mouth a few times before a few sober brain cells bump into each other. “I read that your investor had his daughter’s wedding at Trump Bedminster!” she cries, completely out of context. A field producer covers her mouth with the production packet in horror and I’m tempted to do the same. What she just said is true, but Lauren has never come for me before. A two-fingered chill walks my spine. What ishappeninghere?

“People! People!” Lisa chirps in a way that makes Kelly bow herhead and plug a finger in her ear. “Enough. Everyone is to mark June twenty-third to July second on their calendars. We will find a location that works for the group.”

“Lisa,” I sputter, “Ihaveto go to Morocco this summer.”

Lisa curls her lip, disgusted by my desperation. “We’llfigure it out, Brett.” She waits for Jen and Lauren to turn their attention back to the production packet.What the fuck?she mouths, jerking her head in their direction. I exaggerate my shrug to show I’m just as baffled as she is. Lisa rolls her eyes and mouthsFuck my life, both because she is almost fifty and doesn’t realize that no one is saying that anymore and because what’s my problem is Jesse’s problem is Lisa’s problem. That’s always the way it’s been. So why does this time feel different?