It's a well-accepted truth that eventually, it's the children who care for the parents. If you're single, that likely won't be an option, so think about your future and long-term care. Finally, create and stick to a savings plan that will give you the financial security to keep your independence as long as possible.
—from 707 Ways to Cheat at Solitaire
"If this is supposed to be a welcome-home banner made I by Cassie, then why isn't Cassie making it?" Julia asked as she peeled layers of glittery glue from the ends of her fingers.
"Because it has to look nice, but like it was made by an actual five-year-old—that's why you're doing it and not Nina," Caroline said.
Julia studied the crude puffy letters and runny strips of glue and realized that if she were a five-year-old, she would never see the first grade based on her creation. She craned her head, hoping the banner might improve with distance, but no. WELCOME HOME AUNT ROSEMARY was still crooked on the long strip of yellow paper, the a-r-y of Rosemary still squished together and disproportionately small in relation to the w-e-1 of welcome. She looked across Caroline's massive dining-room table, at the glitter and errant marker doodles covering the newspaper they'd laid out to protect the wood, and felt certain that Cassie herself would have been neater.
She started to pick up pieces of the newspaper and slide the glitter into nice, uniform piles. Caroline stared at her blankly as she worked.
"Hey, Caroline, it's okay to breathe. Ro-Ro's hired nurses, and she's going to her own apartment when she leaves the rehab center, remember? We talked her out of coming here or to Mom and Dad's. You don't have to take care of Ro-Ro!" But that newsflash didn't make Caroline smile. Instead, she was looking around her own formal dining room as if she were a buyer at an open house.
"We never use this room," she said finally. "Did you know that? We've eaten in here maybe twice in eight months. Twice." Caroline reached under the table and came back up with an extendible duster, which she used to reach the corners of the twelve-foot ceiling. "Doesn't stop it from getting dirty, though, does it?"
"Caroline," Julia started, but her sister cut her off.
"Did you know we have five bathrooms? Five?" Caroline faced Julia. "Four people, one of whom is in diapers, live in a house with five bathrooms." Caroline turned and began parading through her home.
"Have you seen our formal living room?" she asked, arms outstretched as she walked and Julia followed. "It's very nice. It's the room we walk through on our way to the family room, which is the room we walk through to get to the kitchen, which is the room the family actually lives in."
"Caroline"—Julia grew firm—"sit down." She wrestled her sister onto one of the barstools at the granite-covered kitchen island. "Tell me what's going on."
"Oh, I hate to say it," Caroline whimpered, burying her head in her hands, "but I think Ro-Ro's right. This house is too big for us. All Steve does is work because he's worried about the mortgage. All I do is clean. We don't even see each other most days. The only way I know he's living here is because I'm still doing his laundry." Caroline was crying, but she kept talking in sharp little gasps of breath. "And we can't sell because no one wants to live in an unfinished development." She paused. "Next to Myrtle!"
"You'll pay down the mortgage," Julia comforted her. "And it'll get better. I can help."
Caroline looked at her, shocked. "You mean give us money?"
"We could call it a loan if that makes any difference."
"No." Caroline shook her head vigorously.
"Why not?" Julia asked. "I've got more than I'll ever need."
"Julia, we're not taking your money. Steve and I made a grown-up decision when we bought this place, and we're going to deal with it like grown-ups."
Grown-ups. Julia remembered the last time she'd heard that term. "It's Nick and Cassie's inheritance," Julia said bluntly. "You saw Mom. You saw the way she worried these last few weeks, spending every day at the hospital or at the rehab center because she's Ro-Ro's only family. Well, that's me, Caroline. Someday, Nick and Cassie are going to have to take care of me because I'm not going to have any kids of my own to do it. So let me help you out now."
"Julia," Caroline cried in disbelief. "You don't honestly believe that!"
"Of course I do. You know that."
"You're nothing like Ro-Ro," Caroline exclaimed, but Julia wasn't so sure. They were both stubborn and full of themselves, set in their ways, and growing older. She thought about Lance, the way he'd always said that Ro-Ro reminded him of someone he knew, and only then did she realize that he was talking about her.
"Caroline," Julia said slowly, "let's face it. Ro-Ro is me with better jewelry." She'd said it to be funny, but the truth hit Julia hard. When Caroline didn't laugh, Julia focused on the problem at hand. "How much would bring your payment down to a manageable level?"
Caroline didn't offer her a figure. Instead, she asked, "Have you heard from Lance?"
"Lance and I aren't pen pals, Caroline. We've gone back to our own lives like we were supposed to. Besides," Julia added, "I'm leaving for Europe in three weeks. You know how hectic book tours are, and ..." She broke off.
"Oh, Julia."
"Caroline, it's okay. I'm going to be so busy, you wouldn't believe it. I've got to do press, and Abby wants to put out a new book really quickly, so I've got to do that. I've got to, work. This is what I do, remember?"
"Yes," Caroline admitted. "It's what you do."
Julia looked down at the half-eaten pizza slice that rested on the molded plastic seat beside her in the airport waiting area. "I guess you found lunch without me," Abby was saying, her voice clear through Julia's cellular phone.
"Oh, don't worry about me, Abby. I won't starve," Julia said before taking a sip of her full-calorie Coke.
Damn Lance Collins. He had left an entire case of the stuff, and Julia couldn't bear to throw it out. Now she was addicted. Between that and the whole milk she'd been drinking, she was glad to be going on tour. She needed to drop a few pounds, and more than a couple of Lance's bad habits, to distance herself from all the parts of Lance that remained long after he was gone.