This Much Is True (the sequel to The Senator's Son)

Chapter 7

Zach

I was watching a hockey game when Genie came charging through the door. She was about as graceful as a herd of elephants. She dropped her bags to the ground with a thud.

"I'm home," she said.

"I'm sure the floor below us knows that too."

She ignored my barb and plopped down on the chair across from me. "Where's Emma?"

"Working until ten."

"Did she leave any dinner?"

"Every once in a while I fend for myself, you know. I can do that."

Genie laughed. "Yeah, that's a good one. So there's nothing to eat?"

"There's some leftovers from last night."

She disappeared and I resumed watching the game. Toronto had scored again and were on the power play. The game couldn't get any worse and I still had another period to endure, not to mention my sister, who'd retaken her seat on the chair no one ever used. She was eating cold pasta, too lazy to warm it up. She sat cross-legged and stared at me instead of the television.

"What do you want?" I asked with mild irritation, more with the game and less with her.

"I hear you're leaving for New York tomorrow afternoon. You think that's going to work?"

"What's going to work?"

"You think New York will charm her for you? She's a small-town girl; New York is going to seem like another planet."

"She'll love it."

"Normally everything you do is the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do, but you might have actually got this one right. Your planets finally aligned. You hit the jackpot. All sevens. Blackjack."

I glared at her. "Okay, really funny."

Genie's face softened and I noticed that as we got older, she was looking more like Mom except with darker hair. "You don't have to sell her. She'll go with you even if she hates New York, that's if you don't fuck things up first."

"I don't plan on it."

"I'm just guessing, but Emma's the type of girl who wants a fresh canvas. New York will be it and she'll love it."

"Thanks for the pep talk," I said. "It's been great. Let's not do it again any time soon."

Genie frowned. "You're in a mood."

Yeah, I was in a mood and I wasn't about to tell her why. I had a lot on my plate. School grades to keep high, keeping Bianca out of our lives and the biggest headache of all . . . the video. I vacillated between keeping and destroying it. My gut was telling me to get rid of it, but the other part of me needed the insurance. Once we were gone for good, safely in New York, I'd get rid of it. Until then I had to keep it safe. Bianca could not be trusted.

#

My all-expense trip to New York came with a cost: a meeting with Dad. After my last class and with more than enough time to get to the airport, I drove across town to my parents' house to see Dad. He was in his study on the phone and I took the seat across from him and waited. He was in a heated discussion with someone about the upcoming election. Dad's term wasn't up, but some of his colleagues' were. Dad was an even-keel kind of guy and many people came to him for advice, but whoever was on the phone was giving him grief and that didn't bode well for me.

I pulled out my phone while I waited. A text from Emma asking when I'd be home. Another from Brett wanting me to pick him up some New York weed. The guy was an idiot.