Page 94 of The Upgrade

“I believe you.” My sister sounds too understanding. “I take it the two of you hooked up again?”

“Yes.” God, I hate hurting my sister. “Please don’t hold it against Eve. She wanted to tell you, but?—”

“I’m not mad at Eve.” She sounds almost surprised by that. “I’m not even mad at you.”

“What are you feeling?”

“This isn’t about me, dear brother.” She’s using her shrink voice now. “You’re calling to tell me and I’m glad, but something else happened, didn’t it? You messed up somehow or?—”

“Eve must’ve called you?”

“No, actually. I just had a feeling.” She’s really busting out the shrink voice now. “Would you like me to take an educated guess at what happened?”

“Fine.” I’ll kill her if she nails this. Even as I think that, I’m guessing she will. My sister’s a fucking good shrink.

“Eve’s new belief that she’s opposed to marriage—a normal, expected trauma response to betrayal—crashed right up against your recent, grief-induced belief that traditional marriage isyourpath to happiness.” She keeps going before I can interrupt. “Since my big brother likes to believe he knows best how other people should run their lives, coupled with his completely understandable fear that there’s something innately wrong with him in the context of his intimate relationships, I’m going to guess that he, in his infinite wisdom, pushed Eve away from him and?—”

“Can we please stop talking about me in the third person?”

Camille chuckles. “Am I on the right track?”

“I hate you.”

“Iamright.” She’s thrilled by my suffering, as all younger sisters would be. “Do I get bonus points if I acknowledge that Eve’s baggage around sex shame and wanting to feel normal might’ve triggered your urge to protect her from herself?”

It sucks when my sister’s so smart. “What do I do, Cam? I screwed up and told her she needs to move on. That she should sow her wild oats.”

“She does and she should,” Camille says matter-of-factly. “And she’s doing that quite well, from what I understand. Let me ask you something, Christopher.”

“God, not the full name.”

My sister ignores me. “Do you believe in a woman’s right to change and evolve as she lives her life? To believe strongly in one path, then alter her plans or her views as she grows? To decide for herself what’s healthy and feels good? What will ultimately lead to a satisfying life?”

“I hate when you get on your soapbox.” But she does have a point. “Yes, I believe that. For all women, not just Eve. Which reminds me?—”

“I’ve been too hard on Miranda?”

“Yep.” My turn to put on the shrink hat. “You took Dad’s death to heart like I did, but your coping mechanism involved enmeshing yourself in the family unit and lashing out at anyone you saw as a threat to that unit.”

“Ouch,” she muses. “Not that you’re wrong.”

“I’m not.” I’m not half bad at the shrink thing myself. “Miranda handled things poorly, cutting you off like she did, but people do what they have to in order to move forward.”

“I get that. I do.” She sighs. “I’ll have a talk with the others. Clara and Caitlynn and Christine and?—”

“Fuck, we have a lot of sisters.”

“Too many, sometimes.” She sighs again. “Maybe it’s time we pull our fangs out of Miranda. Stop using her as a scapegoat for our grief about Dad.”

“Progress,” I mutter. “Maybe we’ll all try it.”

“Look, Kit,” she says, and I’m glad we’ve gone back toKit. “I’ve known Eve since we were fourteen. She’s got a kind heart and a clever mind and she deserves to find someone who supports her as she evolves into the woman I’ve watched her become this past week. That’s you,” she says, shocking the shit out of me. “Assuming you’re Massage Guy.”

“I’m Massage Guy?”

“Did you or did you not give my best friend a happy ending massage?”

This feels like a trap, but I answer her honestly. “Yes.”

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