Part of her wanted to explain to Lucy why she was here, what Danny and his future meant to her—that it meant more to her than her own. But Lucy didn’t have siblings, didn’t seem to have any real friends beyond those she’d partied with in high school. How could she understand doing something that wasn’t entirely self-centered?

“Why did you help Gavin?” Maddie suddenly asked.

Lucy once again began chewing on her bottom lip. “Why not?”

“Because he’s the competition. And an ass.”

“It’s just lecture notes. He could get them from anyone.”

“But he didn’t. He got them from you. Which seems out of character for you both. Unless he’s messing with your head. Or you, his.”

She shrugged. “We have history. Sometimes people act the way they do for a reason. Besides, I help him, and down the line, he helps me. It’s how things work. It’s business. It’s life.”

“Not mine. I don’t use people.”

“I didn’t say I did. Or was. Give and get isn’t the same as using people.”

“Says the person who’s doing the ‘getting.’”

“Are you speaking hypothetically or from experience?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes. Because people act the way they do for a reason, and I can’t understand your reasons unless you tell me.”

Maddie laced her fingers together on the table in front of her, a tiredness that she could no longer blame on jet lag weighing her down. The energy it took to be here was sometimes more than she thought she had.

“Fine, whatever,” Lucy said. “But you said yes to us, and this may not be important to you, but it is to me and to Delia. You hopped on board this train; there’s no getting off now.” Lucy tossed her leg out from under her and dropped down from the stool. “Don’t make me regret staying with you.”

Maddie sighed in frustration. Sharing her feelings alternated between a quick retort and a well-placed eye roll. She and Danny were different with each other, but her parents . . . her dad’s preoccupation with the business left less time—literally and figuratively—for hugs and I love yous. And her mom . . . her distance increased in direct proportion with her success, as if displays of affection even at home translated to weakness. If it weren’t for Danny, Maddie may have turned out even more like them.