Garrison started to argue, but Mr. Garrison
silenced him. He forced a smile. “Ms. Finley,
what do we need to do to make you happy?”
I said, “Give half your fortune to charity, and
pay everyone your family’s screwed over. Then,
I’ll forget this!”
Garrison went ballistic. “She’s dreaming!”
“We’ll never do that!”
Mr. Garrison looked unhappy, trying to control
his anger.
Before he could speak, my parents said coldly, “We support our daughter.”
“Do what she says by tonight, or you’ll regret
it.”
6
<
That night, at the Garrison house…
Susan’s arm was in a cast. “Patty Finley’s a
bitch!”
“She doesn’t respect your family! Who does she
think she is?”
“She wants half of everything. If you give it to
her, how will you ever show your faces in public
again?”
Garrison was furious. “Patty Finley deserves to die.”
“If she had told us who she was, we wouldn’t be
in this mess.”
“Dad, do something! We can’t give her what she wants! We’d be a joke!”
Mr. Garrison was annoyed, his face dark. “It’s
<
7:33
their fault, but Patty’s being unreasonable!”
“We’ve used the Finleys to get ahead, but it’s
mostly been our own doing.”
