10. Sisters in order of most to least annoying （Today）

TEN

#1 Lea. Again

At exactly 9:14 in the morning, I was trying to unlock the door to apartment 8F with shaky fingers.

It was my fourth try. Only because I had the peanut gallery in the form of Lea, Kate, and Mike lurking behind me like ghouls and commenting the entire time.

"Does it have a chain?" Lea asked. "Maybe he needs to come unlock it."

"Of course, it has a chain," I said. "Every door has a chain lock."

"No one needs to use a chain in a place like this," Kate put in. "It's too fancy for petty larceny. Try your key again. Do you want me to try?"

"I got it!" I snapped. "Stop harping, and just let me do it."

"Why does he need a roommate again?" Mike wondered as he shifted a box of random books and art supplies from one hip to the other.

He peered around the hall with the same distrustful expression he gave everything that wasn't from Belmont. My brother-in-law was nothing if not a creature of habit. I honestly thought he had worn the same pair of jeans and rotating T-shirts since he had met Lea literally twenty years ago. Which…good for him. If, at forty, I can fit into the clothes I wore at twenty, I'll be over the freaking moon.

"Everyone needs a roommate in New York City," I said. "Even doctors. It's one of the most expensive places in the world. You know all know this."

"I know somethin'," Mike muttered.

I finally got the deadbolt to turn. "What does that even mean?"

Before he could answer, the door opened, and I fell into the arms of my new roommate.

"Hey," I said, somehow suddenly breathless.

Nathan peered down at me through his glasses, and I thought his full mouth twitched. "Hello."

God, he smelled good. Like soap and water and just a hint of coffee.

Nathan helped me stand upright, then took the heavy duffel bag I had slung over my shoulder without asking. "You shouldn't be carrying things this heavy with your bad knee."

"Well, you know what they say," I replied. "No rest for the…" I tapped my mouth, now wondering how that saying actually ended.

"Weary?" Nathan suggested.

"It's wicked," Lea called behind me while the word "wicked" literally echoed around the tiled interior of the building. "Originally a proverb from the Bible."

Nathan and I both turned to face her.

"It is?" he asked. "I didn't know that."

"Don't," I warned my sister. "Nathan, let me introduce you to some of my family. That's my sister Kate, my brother-in-law Mike, and the one giving us a Sunday school lesson is Lea. You can ignore her."

"Nice to meet you," murmured Nathan, though he didn't seem to think so.

I couldn't blame him when everyone was staring at him like a bad piece of meat the butcher was trying to pass off as fresh.

"It means that every sinner gets their due in the end," Lea clarified, instead of saying hello like a normal person. I mean, really. How anyone could look that imperious in faded skinny jeans and a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt? But that was Lea's magic power.

"Sort of God's way of saying ‘fuck around and find out,'" Kate added with a mischievous grin that only expanded when I shot her a glare.

Shut it, I mouthed.

Make me, she mouthed right back.

To his credit, Nathan didn't seem to be disturbed by any of it.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said while he took the duffel bag from me. "I would have come down to help if you had called."

"I didn't want to bug you," I said.

Nathan only shrugged. "I set aside my day to help. It's no problem."

"A true gentleman," Kate remarked behind me.

"You can still help with the furniture, Prince Charming," Lea called. "Mike can't move it on his own. Now, can you let us in so we can put these things in Joni's room and inspect the place properly?"

Looking more than overwhelmed, Nathan stepped aside to let my family in, and instinctively, I stepped with him until we were the last to enter.

"Sorry," I said. "They're kind of like bulldozers. It's better not to stand in their way."

His mouth quirked again in that way that told me he thought something was funny but wasn't sure why. "It's all right. I have brothers too."

"You do?"

Huh. Nathan Hunt had brothers along with overbearing parents? The plot was certainly thickening.

"How's your knee?" he asked as we followed my siblings back to my room. "I restocked the ibuprofen if you need it."

Why, oh, why did a man buying me a Costco-sized container of painkillers make me blush?

"I'm all right," I said. "It's mostly back to normal if I'm careful. But thank you."

We walked down the hall and into the empty bedroom, where my sisters were opening and closing closet doors while Mike inspected the windows.

I snorted. What were they planning to do? Bring me home if they found a speck of dust or a rusty hinge?

"So, you're the roommate," Lea said when she emerged from the double closet on the far side of the room. "Are you gay?"

"Lea!" I gasped. "What the hell?"

Nathan looked like he'd been slapped. "What?"

"It's fine if you are," Kate supplied. "We just need to know what's what between you and Joni."

Nathan blinked and pushed his glasses up his nose. "No. I'm not."

I wanted to squeeze his hand.

Lea looked Nathan over, clearly taking in what I and probably every other woman in New York noticed on a daily basis. The fact that the man was a legitimate fox who wore a plain pair of jeans and a T-shirt like a Calvin Klein model, even if he had no idea. I knew where she was going with this. If he was gay, it was one thing for me to be living here. But if he was straight, there was only one reason for it in her mind.

Maybe he'd say he was pan and really mess with her.

"Lea," I started again. "Cut it out."

"How did you meet anyway?" she asked. "Customer at the bar, right?"

"That's right," Nathan said. "Although we didn't really get to know each other until she came to my office for a consultation for a breast augmentation."

Every other head in the room immediately swiveled my way.

"You wanted to do what?" Lea demanded.

I gave Nathan a dirty look. "Thanks for that one."

"Joni, what?" Kate chimed in. "Aside from the fact that it's totally unnecessary, how were you even going to pay for something like that?

I shook my head. "I wasn't. I'm not. I thought about it for a second and changed my mind, all right? So just drop it."

I don't know why I bothered. Lea wasn't capable of dropping anything.

"So, what, you're her plastic surgeon?" she asked Nathan. "Here to make her into some little doll just like you want?"

"Lea!" I snapped. "Stop!"

"No," Nathan said. "I'm not. I actually advised her against doing the surgery. I didn't think it was necessary."

"Because you had the hots for her?" Lea pressed.

To his credit, he didn't back down. "Because I think she's perfect the way she is."

The sudden silence in the room was so thick I could have spread it on toast. There it was again. That word. The one that made my heart race in my chest and my lips swell with need.

Kate's hand floated to cover her mouth, Mike just looked bemused, and Lea looked like she'd been smacked upside the head.

"No." She shook her head so hard that the messy bun on top threatened to fall out. "And you're not staying here. You can take the couch at our house if you absolutely can't stand the shop, but I'm not leaving you here with an obvious predator."

"Predator?" Nathan asked. "Why am I a predator?"

"You're not," I assured him. "My sister is just being a bitch."

"Harsh, but maybe fair," Kate remarked to Mike, who had the good sense not to do anything but grunt.

"It's not a lack of manners when I'm just protecting you," Lea argued with a hand on her hip. "No offense, but you don't exactly look like you need a roommate, guy."

"His name is Nathan, you absolute brat," I snapped.

But again, Nathan just shrugged. "None taken. I don't."

"Nathan," I hissed at him this time. What was he doing? Giving the entire agreement away?

He ignored me completely.

"Well, at least he's admitting it," said Kate, now appraising him. "Anyone who wears The Row on moving day isn't hurting for cash."

Nathan looked down at the simple clothes that, yes, looked a lot more expensive than the thrifted overalls I used when cleaning houses for extra money.

She grinned. "I run a men's vintage shop in Riverdale. If you're ever looking to clean out your closet, I'll give you my card."

Nathan took it, looking puzzled.

"Kate, don't add to this garbage, please." As the fairest of my siblings, I at least expected her to be on my side.

"Doesn't care about his clothes either," she replied like I hadn't even spoken. "Classic rich guy behavior. Xavier is the same way," she remarked to Lea. "I noticed it the first time we met."

"Xavier is my other sister Frankie's husband," I filled Nathan in.

"And that one is married to a duke," Lea said meaningfully. "In England."

Nathan blinked. "Okay."

"A very powerful duke," she added.

He nodded. "The highest level of the peerage would automatically make him somewhat powerful."

"And very protective," she piled on. "Over this family, which he has adopted as his own. His youngest sister-in-law in particular."

I smacked my forehead. "For fuck's sake, Lea. You and Xavier barely even get along, so don't make veiled threats to my roommate on behalf of Frankie's husband. You have your own right here to help you bully my roommate."

On the other side of the room, Mike grunted again. This time, he looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"I want to be clear," Lea retorted.

Nathan was frowning now like he was trying to figure something out. "And you have a brother too, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah." Damn his good memory.

"Who is not going to like this," Lea said smugly. "Mattie will drag you up to Boston with him as soon as he hears about this nonsense."

"He can try it," I snarled back. "But at least Mattie knows to steer clear when the claws are out."

"True dat," Kate commented as she edged out of the room, clearly to snoop around.

"Amen," Mike muttered to himself, looking like he would rather be anywhere else.

Nathan now wore the same expression.

"I'm just saying," Lea continued. "Dr. Fancypants isn't the only one with a bit of money and some power."

"A lot of money," Kate's voice called from down the hall. A long whistle followed.

We all turned to find she was gone. We found her standing in the living room, staring at the painting hanging over the fireplace.

"My dude," Kate said to Nathan. "That's a Degas, isn't it?"

No one else in the apartment reacted, though Mike immediately dug out his phone.

"What's a Day-gah?" he asked Lea.

She shrugged. "The heck if I know."

"He was a famous painter," Kate told them. "We learned about him in art school. Lea, I'm sure you know at least some of his paintings. The famous ones about the ballerinas. Like that one. It's real, isn't it?"

Nathan's eyes jumped between all of us as he seemed to measure whether or not to answer the question. Then, his shoulders relaxed like he'd made a decision.

"Yes," he said as he pushed his glasses up his nose again. "It is."

Kate gasped, and now all three of my family members turned to examine the painting while I looked at it from the arched entry of the room.

Something about the painting did resonate. In it, a dancer lay on the floor, arms reaching toward her toes as she stretched. I smiled. The scene was familiar. She was clearly out of breath, and her dark hair curled around her neck just like mine did at the end of a long night.

Nathan moved next to me while my family took turns arguing about how much the painting was worth.

"I'm sorry about this," I muttered. "I told you, they're like jackals."

Nathan shrugged and offered me a shy sort of half-smile. "I think it's nice that they care so much. But are you all right?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged again. He did that a lot. "I don't know. You're typically very outspoken, but not usually as sharp as you were in the bedroom. Now, you're so quiet. This is the first time I've seen you stay out of a conversation."

I looked back at my sisters and Mike and thought about that for a second. Kate was telling the others about the composition of the painting, giving them a short lecture that I knew I wouldn't understand very well anyway. She would mention the painting at the next family dinner, and I'd feel like an idiot for forgetting everything she had said. It was better to act like I didn't care in the first place.

"It's hard to add to conversations like this when I barely know what they are talking about in the first place," I said. "Sometimes it's easier just to wait until they're done."

Nathan looked at me for a long time, like he was waiting for me to add something more. Then he crossed his arms. "I know what you mean. I often feel that way too."

I opened my mouth to ask how. And why. But before I could say anything, we were interrupted by Lea's obnoxious voice.

"This only brings me back to my original question. If he doesn't need the money, what exactly does he need in exchange for your new digs? What kind of ‘payment' is he expecting, huh?"

Both Lea and Kate turned with their arms crossed to face Nathan and me. Next to them, Michael rubbed his forehead and muttered something like, "Come on, Tess." I recognized it as the nickname he'd used for years. Some derivative of Contessa when she was being particularly imperious.

"Did you ask my sister to move in with you because you want to sleep with her?" Lea demanded.

"Did you?" Kate prodded with her.

"Annnd, there it is," Mike muttered, though he seemed to watch me carefully for a response.

Nathan stared at Lea's finger, now outstretched toward him, until it dropped. Then he swallowed. "No, I did not."

"Do you want to sleep with her?" asked Kate, though she didn't seem as upset by the idea.

My eyes practically bugged out of my face. Just behind Nathan, I mouthed SHUT UP.

Kate just grinned.

Nathan looked between me and my three extremely nosy family members. To his credit, he didn't look the slightest bit disturbed other than the reddening in his cheeks. "That feels like a trick question. If I say no, I'd be lying since your sister is a very beautiful woman. But if I say yes, then it seems like I did invite her to live here with the intention of seducing her. Which, I assure you, I did not."

My hand twitched like it wanted to reach out for his. And I thought Nathan's twitched toward mine as well. I didn't know why.

Beautiful, he'd called me.

Also, he didn't deny that he wanted to sleep with me either.

Both ideas did something funny to my stomach.

Nathan glanced at me, and his brown eyes asked the obvious question: Should I tell them?

I shook my head in the tiniest possible way. Absolutely not.

He turned back to my siblings. "Joni is my friend. She needed help. And I'm in a position to offer it."

"Yeah, but—" Lea started.

"Oh, for God's sake," I spoke at last, stepping in between Nathan and my family. "Stop it right freaking now. Stop the picking and the intimidating and the speculating about Nathan like he's not even here, and just be nice. I mean it, Lea. Cut it out and act like a decent fucking human."

Lea opened her mouth, clearly ready to argue back, until her husband placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered something into her ear. Immediately, she softened against him, though she still had fire in her eyes.

"I still want to know why," she said, though not quite as loudly as before.

"I know you do," I said. "But this isn't your choice, it's mine. Now, for your information, Nathan is awesome. He's my friend; I've known him for months because he's a regular at Opal, and he has never been anything but kind and respectful to me."

Okay, so that was a bit of a lie. But maybe not so much, given what he'd told me last night.

"He found out I was in a jam, had an extra room, and offered it to me while I get my shit together enough to take care of myself," I finished. "He is beyond generous. And he deserves your respect and gratitude since none of you have to deal with me anymore."

Both my sisters seemed to look at everything in the room but me.

Take that, I thought.

I knew it wasn't fair to be angry at them for leaving me to figure this out on my own. But I couldn't help it. Not completely.

"Anyway, it's just until I'm back on my feet," I said, reaching up to Nathan's shoulder. Surprisingly, he leaned into my touch. "Then Nathan gets his apartment back, and you can stop making up conspiracy theories, okay?"

His shoulder was warm through the soft cotton. I wanted to slide my hand down. Maybe slip it under his sleeve. Find out if his skin was smooth there or not.

Eventually, though, I had to remove it.

"The truck is double parked," I said as I turned toward the door. "If we all help, I bet we can make it in two loads."

Two hours later, the truck that Mike had borrowed from one of his mechanics was empty. He and Nathan had brought up the battered, mismatched furniture left over from my room at Nonna's while my sisters and I had handled my clothes and boxes.

Kate and Lea seemed content to put the room together for me, and I wasn't going to argue with them about that, too. The room would probably be a mess in a week anyway, so if they wanted to fold my laundry for me, I wouldn't fight it.

The only thing I felt strongly enough about was a framed print of a painting called "The Star" that Nonno had given to me before he died. It was a picture of a dancer in arabesque on stage, with other dancers peeking through curtains behind her and a man in a tuxedo watching beside them. He'd given it to me when I first started dancing, and it had always had the place of honor just over my bed.

It was by the same painter whose actual art hung in Nathan's living room. In a funny way, it made me feel like I could belong here. Just a little.

While my sisters argued over the way to organize my closet, I slid out of the room in search of water. We'd been at it for hours, and I was parched. Just before I reached the kitchen, however, the voices of Mike and Nathan stopped me outside the door.

"I'd apologize for my wife's behavior earlier, but she is who she is," Mike was saying just before I heard the telltale crack of an opening can.

I snorted to myself. That was putting it lightly.

"Lea's protective. She practically raised Joni and Marie herself."

"Marie is the other sister who isn't here?" Nathan wondered.

I smiled. He had a good memory. Most people just remembered I had a giant family and that was it.

"Yeah, Marie's in France, learning to be a chef," Mike said. "She and Joni are only ten months apart. Basically twins. But the kind that are complete opposites. They fought like cats and dogs when she was around, but we all know Joni misses her. She hasn't been the same since Marie left."

There was a familiar twinge in my heart. It happened whenever I thought of my wallflower sister, off and living her best life in Paris. Maybe it was jealousy, like everyone thought. I was always the one who was supposed to shine brightest, but now she was out there like a moonbeam while I adjusted to life as a drudge.

But it wasn't jealousy.

Well, it wasn't just jealousy.

It was more missing the fact that we used to share everything. Marie and I didn't always get along. Okay, we barely got along. But she also knew me better than anyone. Even when she chimed in with the rest of the family's "shit on Joni" times, it wasn't the same. There were other moments, usually at night when we were falling asleep, where we would trade stories from our days. And she'd listen to my stories about the dumb comment I'd made to a teacher, the boy I'd let feel me up in the custodial closet, the newest dance move I was going to try. Sometimes, she'd tell me I was being dumb, but it was never without listening to the whole story. Maybe because, until recently, she didn't have that many of her own.

Marie always wanted to know the truth, not just some version that fit into the flighty, silly screw-up everyone else thought I had to be. Which meant that, in the end, she knew me better than anyone and accepted me for exactly who and what I was.

I didn't have that anymore. And when I'd lost dancing, the other part of my life that made sense, I'd realized just how badly I needed it.

I wished she were here right now. I would have given anything to know what she thought of Nathan and this whole setup. Oddly, I thought she would have liked him. They were a lot alike, now that I thought about it. Both were kind of shy, socially awkward, and fundamentally kind. They even both wore glasses.

Weird.

"Between you and me, I don't think it's all Joni's fault if she's a little immature," Michael was saying once I tuned back into their conversation.

I frowned. What the hell did that mean?

I could imagine Marie's face at that question. Come on, Joni, she'd say. Let's not pretend you're not still fourteen at heart.

Oh, God. Not even close. Even my imaginary sister had no idea about that.

"I've known her since she was maybe six," Michael continued after another audible sip of what I guessed was the six-pack he'd brought for after the job was done. "And the whole time, she's had every person in her family henpecking her to death, doing shit for her because they think she can't do it herself. They weren't doing her any favors. I can't say that to Lea, but it's the truth."

I scowled. I wanted to argue. But he…wasn't wrong. And I hated that just as much as I hated the fact that he was saying it to Nathan.

"Joni doesn't strike me as incompetent," Nathan replied. "Maybe a bit inexperienced. But she's still young."

"She is," Mike agreed. "Joni's seen things like all of us have in the neighborhood. Stuff no kids should have to. But her brother and sisters worked damn hard to shield her from whatever they could, so she's more naive than most too. Which makes her an easy target. Especially for the kinds of people who are used to having pretty things. And used to having what they want, when they want it."

Shawn flashed through my mind. I shook his face away. No, that wasn't what he was talking about. None of my family members knew about Shawn. No one except Marie, and she only knew the bare minimum and had never breathed a word.

There was a long silence while the men sipped their drinks together. I could easily imagine Nathan's face while he mulled things over. Probably wondering what the hell he'd gotten himself into inviting me to stay here. Probably thinking he'd made a huge mistake.

"Lea doesn't need me to say it, but I will anyway," Mike said just as I was about to walk away. "If you fuck her over, you won't just have all the Zolas to deal with—you'll have me too. And I can promise you won't like it."

"Why is that?" Nathan seemed honestly curious.

Mike snorted. "Do you actually want to fuck around and find out?"

His tone was as even and easy as it had ever been. Anyone else listening would never have suspected the threat laced with unspoken violence was like an invite to watch the next Knicks game.

But I knew my brother-in-law. Michael Scarrone was quiet and generally did whatever my sister told him these days, but when he made a threat like that, smart people took him seriously.

I hoped Nathan would understand the meaning there. I hoped he wouldn't have to find it out another way.

There was the sound of shuffling, then jingling of metal on metal before something hard was set down. Maybe on the counter.

"That's the key to this apartment," Nathan said, his voice just as low and serious as Mike's. "Take it. If I ever do a single thing to harm Joni in any way, you have my permission to come here and levy whatever punishment you think is necessary. I'll be here waiting for it."

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even exhale the breath I'd been holding the whole time he'd spoken.

Mike was quiet for a long time, but I thought I heard the sound of him picking up the key. "You for real?"

Nathan's answer was immediate. "I don't make a lot of jokes."

Well, I knew that was definitely true.

There was another long silence. Then Mike chuckled lightly. "You know something? I believe that."

"I want what's best for her," Nathan said, almost as much to himself as to Mike. "I only want to help her. That's all."

My stomach clenched at his final words. I wasn't sure if it was relief in knowing he cared for me. Or with regret that he didn't, in fact, want anything more at all.