Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“No, Carolyn.”
Carolyn tossed a hand Dutch’s way. “Okay, seems like you’re gonna be here most of the time, I can stay in your space.”
“Carolyn, I cannot imagine how scary it would be to be evicted,” Georgie began. “But if it’s taken them three months to do it, you’ve had plenty of time to sort this out before the final hour. You have to have at least twenty, maybe it’s even thirty thousand dollars of stuff in your closet. That’s nearly two years’ rent. This is not my problem. It isn’t Mother’s problem. It isn’t Dad’s. It’s yours. You’re ticked at Dad he wouldn’t give you money to overspend and whatnot. But I’d bet he’d give you a room in his house while you sorted out your life.”
“Guilt money and he owes me and you too,” Carolyn declared.
“I don’t know how you figure that.”
“He left us with her, that’s how I figure that. Why do you think I bump?” she asked snidely. “I mean, Jesus, Georgie, we can’t all be you. You never gave a shit about anything anyone thought. You just went along, being Georgie. Mom rides your ass to lose weight, you’re like, ‘Whatever,’ and off you go to Bonnie Brae Ice Cream with your girl squad.”
“She’s ridiculous, Carolyn. She rode your ass about your weight too, and you’ve always been thin.”
“Right, because I took diet pills, mainlined Red Bull, and when I could get my hands on it, snorted coke.”
Dutch heard Georgie’s hissed-in breath.
This right before she asked, “That’s why you do coke?”
“I don’t do it all the time because I can’t afford it. But I’m not Mom. I don’t have the will-power to starve myself my whole life so I don’t commit the unforgivable sin of being over a size six.”
“Yes, but you started hiding you were using,” Georgie pointed out.
“Yeah, because you gave me so much shit about it,” Carolyn shot back.
“Okay, but seriously. Nobody gives a crap about weight anymore,” Georgie stated.
“Wrong, girl. You don’t give a crap. Do you think I’d snag half the guys I snag if I let myself look like you?”
Dutch reentered the conversation.
“Yes.”
Carolyn’s body jerked and she looked at him.
“Some guys like thin girls. Some guys like curvy girls. Some guys like girls who don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks, are smart, hilarious, gorgeous and have weird obsessions with their cats. Jagger wasn’t into you because you’re skinny. In fact, you’re not his type for that reason. He was into you because you knew how to have fun. But the point is, mostly guys like girls who have it together and aren’t headcases about stupid shit like that.”
Carolyn said not a word, just stared at him.
So Dutch kept at it.
“But the bottom line in any scenario, if you’re with anyone, man or woman, who your body size matters more than who the person you are is, it’s you who should think they’re not worth it and scrape them off,” Dutch advised, and finished, “Including if that person’s your mother.”
Now Carolyn stared at him, her mouth hanging open.
They had a day, just them, if they could get shot of this woman, so Dutch moved to end it.
“Now you’re blaming your mother. You’re a grown-ass woman, Carolyn. Take some fuckin’ responsibility. Call your father. Consign your shit. Stop doin’ coke, for fuck’s sake, to stay skinny. And introduce yourself to yourself. I’ve been around you a lot. All this shit aside, you’re worth knowin’.”
When Carolyn didn’t reply, Georgie came to Dutch’s side, leaned into it, he slid an arm around her shoulders, she slid both hers around his middle, and she said to her sister, “Talk to Dad. He’s going to help. If he doesn’t, you can’t stay at my place. I won’t give you any money. But I’ll ask around. I’m pretty sure I can find you someplace to crash for a few weeks. But in that time, you have to unload some of your designer stuff and get yourself ahead.”
“What’ll I do with my furniture?” Carolyn asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll intervene with Dad. Maybe he can put it in his basement or something.”
Carolyn shook her head, looked away.
When she looked back, she said, “I’ll talk to Dad.”
Thank Christ.
“I love you and I hate this is happening to you just as I’m glad it is because I want you to get beyond this,” Georgie told her. “It worries me to death. Dad’s freaked out. And Mother is Mother, but I bet she’s freaked too. Enough. For you and for us.”
Carolyn stared at her sister a beat, before she pushed out, “I’ve been a bitch.”
“Stop bein’ that, sort your shit, and it’s all gonna be good,” Dutch told her.
Her eyes hit him and lit.
“Do you think Jag—?”
He shook his head and ended that before she started it.
“You two are done. There’s no goin’ back. It’s not about a grudge. It’s about trust. And shitting on family. You broke the first, and worse, committed the cardinal sin of doin’ the last. He’s gone for you.”