“No,” he said. “It isn’t funny.”
Patricia looked at me.
“Claire, sweetheart—”
“Don’t call me sweetheart.”
She went silent.
I looked around her bedroom, then toward the filthy hallway.
Suddenly I understood Nathan’s list.
But instead of humiliating her privately, I had another idea.
“Tell everyone the truth,” I said.
Patricia frowned.
“What?”
“Go back to your post and tell everyone I had a 102-degree fever. Tell them I begged you not to photograph me. Tell them you knew I was sick and let people mock me anyway.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Fine.”
I smiled.
“Then tomorrow at noon, we go live together.”
Her expression changed.
“We do the same household tasks. Fridge, cabinets, laundry, towels. Let all those women who praised your standards see how well you live by them.”
Patricia stared at me.
“And if I refuse?”
“Then Nathan and I can simply show people what we saw here.”
She looked around nervously.
Eventually, pride won.
“Fine.”
The livestream began at noon.
At first, Patricia performed exactly as expected.
She smiled brightly and announced that everyone was “having a little fun.”
Then she opened her refrigerator.
A jar rolled out and shattered.