Page 68 of The Big Easy & Other Lies
“Tell Dr. Livvie all about it.”
Rhett pulled out, and I filled her in on everything.
“You are the only person I know wherenothinggoes right in your life, and it’s actually not your fault,” Livvie said when I finished.
“Things go right. One, two.” I pointed at her and Rhett. “And Bran makes three. It’s not nothing.”
Rhett shot me a pleased smile.
“So Delphine is real sick this time?” Livvie asked. “Not fake be-my-servant sick?”
“She’s real sick.” I drew my knees up under my chin. “And apparently crazy-expensive-medicine sick.”
“What about insurance?” Rhett asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s something weird with her plan, like it doesn’t cover everything. The caseworker at the hospital explained it all to me, but that’s the upshot.”
We all fell silent.
“I think I know what to do,” I said.
“Find the owl?” Livvie guessed.
“I doubt it’s an original even if I do find it,” I said. “But assuming I’ve been taking good mental notes onAtticCash over the years, I’ve noticed other stuff that might be worth some money.”
“That’s awesome,” Rhett said. “You can put it on eBay. That’ll take some of the stress off of her heart, right?”
“Except Delphine will never go for it. She fights me over expired junk mail,” I said. “I can’t overstate how messed up she is.”
“Never underestimate desperation,” Livvie argued. “Money talked when she sent you on that owl scavenger hunt.”
“Even if I talk her into it, how am I going to do it? It’s taken me over a month to clear half the spare room, and I wasn’t stopping and checking anything out on the internet. I can’t do that and finish my designs for the show next month. It’ll never happen.”
“Let us be your fairy godmothers,” she said.
“No fairy godmother.”
“Then what?” she asked.
“A heron.”
Rhett looked confused. “A heron?”
“It’s from this story thing my mom wrote me. Don’t worry about it,” I said.
“You haven’t heard aboutThe Tale of Tear Girl?” Livvie asked.
When Rhett shook his head, Livvie gave a satisfied smile. “I guess we’re even then, because I’ve never been in Cam’s house.”
I shot her a startled glance, only now realizing it must have hurt her feelings for Rhett to be the first one invited in.
“Livvie—”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, cutting me off. “Let’s talk about the plan. It could work, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah. If I can get Delphine to agree to it.”
She leaned forward. “If she wants her medicine, it doesn’t sound like she has a choice.”
