Page 75 of The Favorite Sister

Next to me, Stephanie shifts, like she’s uncomfortable for me. I start to sweat in this freezing-cold room.

“Let’s consult the tape,” Lauren says.

“Favorite sex position?” Arch makes a face like she’s absolutely stumped, then answers, cuttingly, “Asleep.”

“Brett!” Lauren scolds. “No bueno, girlfriend. You’ve got to keep a woman like that, you know...satisfied.”

“She gets home after midnight and she’s up at five!”

“So do it and go back to bed!” Lauren says, unmoved.

I practically beg Kelly, “Next question, please.”

Kelly scans the question first, to herself. A slow, depraved smile spreads across her face. “What were the exact words she—she being you, Brett—used when she proposed?”

“Oh, come on,” Steph says, surprising me by coming to my defense. “That’s private. Don’t make her share that.”

“I thought you said nothing was private,” Kelly says, tossing my own arrogant words back in my face. “I thought you prided yourself on being open and transparent.”

“You must have said something amazing to getherto say yes to you.” Lauren sticks her tongue out at me.

“I don’t remember,” I say, quietly.

“Yes you do!” Lauren laughs.

I chew the inside of my mouth for a few moments. I have to say something to get them off my back. “I guess,I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Something to that effect.”

Lauren hits play. Arch furrows her lovely brows. “She told me that I was the only woman who had ever made her consider marriage, and that together she thought we could run the world.”

Lauren whistles. “I am womanhear me roar. Why wouldn’t you want us to know that? It’s good. Assertive.” She shivers. “Assertive is sexy. Damn. I’d marry you, Brett.”

“I wouldn’t want anyone knowing that,” Kelly says, ironing out her posture so that the superiority of her next statement really lands. “A proposal like that sounds more like a business proposition.”

“I’m attracted to Archforher ambition,” I say, my heart booming both with indignation and the risk I’m taking in challenging Kelly in her current state. “And vice versa. It’s not something I’d expect someone like you to understand.”

Kelly tenses, wild with restraint. “Because I have no ambition, right?”

Don’t say it. Don’t escalate it. But I can never help myself. “You have regrets.”

Kelly launches herself off the chair, her hands clawed in the practiced shape of my neck. Lauren gasps and skitters onto the hearth, moving out of her way. But Kelly only stands there, dragon-breathing, the quiz stuck to the lap of her romper.Chocolate or cheese?is the next question. “You are out of line, Brett. Keep pushingme. I fucking dare you. Because I am not going quietly.”

For a few moments, I am almost resigned.Just say it, Kel.The fallout will be painful, but covering my tracks is exhausting work.

She might have said it. I’ll never know, because Jen suddenly shrieks Lauren’s name. I smell the very distinct smell first, and I know without having to look at Lauren that she got too close to the fire, and it took a lick at her hair.

“It’s me? It’s me?!” Lauren leaps to her feet, beating the back of her head, and the unmistakable stench fills the room. We jump up to help, looking and wincing, assuring her it’s not that bad when she demands to know how bad it is. She pushes us away and flees up the stairs to see for herself. Who could blame her? None of us deserve to be believed.