The Good Sister by Wendy Corsi Staub Read Free Book Online Page B

they were teenagers, “I’ll never send her to Sisters.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I want her to have freedom to choose where she goes, not be forced into it like we were just because our moms went here.”
    Yes, Sacred Sisters was a tradition among Catholic families in the old neighborhood, but Jen didn’t consider herself forced into attending. On the contrary, having wistfully watched her older sisters enroll one by one, she couldn’t wait to go.
    The Bonafacio girls thrived there, academically and socially. Firstborn Maddie was class president all four years. Brainy Jessie graduated a year later as valedictorian. Bennie and Frankie were standouts—and eventually captains—on almost every athletic team.
    Night after night, year after year, they sat at the supper table brimming with tales of high school life.
    When at last it was Jen’s turn to walk into that three-story yellow brick building as a student, she found her niche on the yearbook and newspaper staffs. She loved every minute of those four fleeting years, with the exception of her on-again, off-again high romance with Mike Morino.
    Genuinely taken aback when the ever-irreverent teenage Debbie declared that she’d sell her future daughter into slavery before she’d send her to their alma mater, Jen had asked, “But what if she wants to come here?”
    “Why would she?”
    “Why wouldn’t she?”
    Famous last words.
    Last spring, when Carley started asking about public high school, Thad wasn’t opposed to the idea of forgoing high school tuition payments for the next four years. He’s always worried about money, thanks to the dismal economy, bills piling up, taxes and college costs on the rise, and regular rounds of layoffs at the accounting firm where he’s a principal CPA.
    “Just think—we could save more in the girls’ college accounts if we send them to public high school, Jen, and they’d still get a great education.”
    “You and I both went to private high schools, though . . . so how would we know?”
    “I don’t know . . . but I’m guessing my experience wasn’t as warm and fuzzy as yours.”
    Having grown up in a wealthy suburb of Rochester, Thad had gone to a four-year prep school. He isn’t Catholic—or religious, for that matter. While his parents had been Presbyterian, they weren’t practicing, and the first time he set foot in any church was when he married Jen. He never considered converting, but he occasionally attends Sunday Mass at Saint Paul’s with her and the girls. He likes to refer to himself as a lapsed agnostic.
    “Look, I know Sacred Sisters is a tradition in your family, Jen,” he said. “But if Carley feels that strongly about it—”
    “She doesn’t,” Jen cut in. “She’s always planned on going there. She’s just worried about being separated from Nicki after all these years. I told her they can still be friends.”
    “You and I both know it won’t be the same.”
    “Well, it’s not really good for the two of them to be joined at the hip anymore. Nicki’s the type who might be tempted to walk on the wild side when she gets a little older.” Lord knew her mother certainly had. “Carley’s not like that. She’s a good girl, and anyway, it’s time for her to branch out and make new friends, don’t you think?”
    “Sure, but you’ve said yourself that Sisters is too small—”
    “I never said too . I just said small.”
    “Okay, you’ve said that it’s small, and insular—”
    “ Insulated . That’s not a negative quality. Crazy, terrible things are going on out there in the world, Thad.”
    “Crazy, terrible things can happen anywhere. Isn’t high school a time for Carley to broaden horizons instead of narrow them?”
    “That’s what I just said. I want her to branch out and—”
    “And you want her to be insulated. I feel like you’re talking in circles, Jen.”
    To be honest, so did she—and it wasn’t an unfamiliar sensation. But whenever she feels