Love Love Read Free Page B

Kevin still had Alice in his life, he probably wouldn’t even be here, but this was something, wasn’t it? She, his little sister, was the person he wanted to talk to, not his best friend, Bill, and it made her feel good. This was what being family was all about. Maybe all those miserable Thanksgivings and Christmases she’d endured weren’t in vain.
    At the same time, she felt a little jealous. Nothing would make her happier than to find out that she had no blood relations to her father, but as usual, it was Kevin who was blessed with good fortune. She didn’t mean to belittle his crisis here—after all, waking up one day to find out that your parents lied to you about something as significant as this would fuck up anybody, especially at age forty—but still, why couldn’t it have been her?
    The toaster dinged. She slathered on the gelatinous goop with a steak knife, the smell of preserved strawberries as strong as bubble gum. She brought the sandwiches out to the table and sat down next to him with her own bottle of beer.
    â€œRemember how when we were kids, people used to say I looked like Dad while you looked like Mom?”
    â€œYeah. I never thought much of it.”
    â€œMy bet is on Pastor Kim,” Judy said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œIf we’re playing the ‘Who’s your daddy’ game. Mom always had a thing for him.”
    â€œWishful thinking on your part. I think it was you who had a thing for him.”
    â€œEvery girl has her Thorn Birds fantasy.”
    Kevin bit into the sandwich. The extra jelly squeezed out from one end and plopped onto his dish. To compensate for the lack of peanut butter, she’d put on too much, but her brother didn’t notice. “I don’t think it was anything like that.”
    As much as Judy wanted to believe otherwise, he was probably right. Though if there was anybody who deserved to be cheated on, it was her father, who’d had the audacity to carry on an affair while his wife was dying.
    â€œNothing’s changed, you know,” Judy said. “You’re still you.”
    â€œI don’t know why they never told me.”
    â€œAre you going to ask him?”
    He nodded vaguely, then snapped into focus. “You weren’t there at the transplant orientation.”
    â€œI was busy,” she said, trying not to sound defensive, but it still came out that way. She had never considered going in the first place, but she hadn’t wanted to argue with Kevin, and she didn’t want to argue now. “I called you, didn’t I?”
    Kevin shook his head. “I don’t care about that. I’ve just been so scatterbrained that I forgot to tell you that I can’t give him my kidney.”
    â€œYou were going to donate your kidney?”
    He looked at her as if she were the dumbest person in the world. “How the hell do you think I found out about all this? I was getting tested for compatibility.”
    â€œWell, you didn’t tell me that.”
    â€œI didn’t?”
    â€œNo.”
    Kevin put the sandwich down. “Shit, I’m sorry.”
    â€œIt’s all right,” she said, and she genuinely felt for him. She might’ve hated her father, but at least she knew who he was. Maybe she wouldn’t be so delighted if she were in her brother’s shoes after all.
    â€œSo, are you going to get tested?” he asked.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWell, if I can’t give him one of mine,” he said, sounding less sure as he continued, “don’t you think maybe you could?”
    Judy stared at him evenly. “I’d sooner give my kidney to a stranger.”
    â€œJudy—”
    She stepped into the power of her anger, embraced it, drew strength from it. “I’d carve it out myself and throw it into the river before he ever sees it.”
    â€œCome on—”
    â€œHe killed her!”
    Then silence. She watched