She stands opposite Josh and waits until he registers her presence. She doesn’t want to startle him like she did this morning when she flew into the kitchen after the dish crashed, forgetting he was here in her semiawake stupor. He yelped. She screamed. She then spent several minutes reassuring him she wasn’t upset about the broken dish, not really, since he apologized profusely. He helped pick up the larger fragments, then took the broom from her. He wanted to sweep up his mess.
Lucas rounds the table and stands behind Josh. He studies Josh’s sketch, the details of which are stunning for his age, from the precise alignment of the asphalt shingles to the grain patterns in the wood porch railing. Lucas points at the roofline. “Great rendering, but your pitch is off. Your windows aren’t to scale either.”
Olivia glares at Lucas. Not a good introduction, bro.
Josh drops his pencil and leans back in the chair. He cranks his neck to look at Lucas. His gaze finds hers. Questions swirl in his mind. She can see them reflected in his eyes, taking shape in his mouth. He doesn’t utter a word, only exhales lightly and tugs on his bottom lip.
Her throat clamps tight. He’s so like his mom. Lily tugged her lip, too, when she was nervous.
“Josh, this is your uncle Lucas.” She paces her words, hoping he understands.
Lucas thrusts out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
Josh stares at Lucas’s hand hovering above the drawing. His eyes widen. For a split second she tenses, ready to put him at ease. But he slides his palm into Lucas’s, surprising them both. Josh lifts his eyes, Lily’s eyes. He smiles. Lily’s smile.
Her chest tightens along with her throat as she realizes how much she’s missed Lily. Has she always felt this way? Did she bury her longing so she didn’t have to acknowledge that Lily’s departure left a hole in her heart, despite her betrayal?
Lucas’s cheeks inflate before he expels a loud breath. Her gaze meets his and she knows he sees the similarity, too. He pulls out a chair and sits. “He looks like her.” Then as if remembering Josh has ears, he redirects his comment to their nephew. “You look like your mom.”
Josh’s mouth turns down. His fingertip nudges a pencil.
“I’m her brother. Let me show you.” Lucas extends his leg and tugs his wallet from a deep front pocket. He opens the wallet and skims his thumb over bills, a foil condom (Really, Luc?), and receipts until his thumbnail snags on a photo. He shows Josh the picture.
Curious, Olivia peeks at it. A younger version of her, Lucas, and Lily stand on their dock, the wind whipping their hair, the bay’s gray water in the backdrop. It’s the last photo of the three of them, taken with their dad’s Nikon. Charlotte gifted him photography lessons one year for his birthday and he took that camera everywhere. At the time of that photo, Olivia had come home for Christmas break. Lucas had already moved into the apartment above the garage and looked as apathetic as ever with his scowl. He and Dwight were not getting along since Dwight hadn’t hired an adequate defense to keep Lucas out of jail like his friends. Olivia didn’t know. Lucas wouldn’t tell her. Lily is the only one smiling, like she has a secret. Olivia knows exactly what her secret was. She was sleeping with Ethan behind her back, and she is sure Lily was pregnant with Josh in the photo and had yet to realize. Lily ran away from home four months later. Olivia tore up her copy of the photo two weeks after that.
“You still have this?” she asks, amazed Lucas has been carrying it all this time. How sentimental, and so unlike him, given how he feels about their family. They look so young in the picture, back when everything had started to implode. Lucas had returned home after serving time for shoplifting. Their father had to cancel his third campaign for Congress because of the bad press. And Lily was on her way to becoming a statistic as a teenage mom.
“Yep. Here.” He gives the photo to Josh. Lucas points to each of them. “That’s your aunt Olivia, me, and your mom. You look like her, same chin and eyes.”
Josh looks at the picture for a long time before returning the photo. “Where?” he asks, looking at her expectantly.
“That was taken at your grandparents’ house, where your mom grew up.”
“No, where?”
“Seaside Cove, about ten miles from here.” Olivia points west.
“Where?” Josh says with more force.
“Do you mean where is your mom?” She looks at Lucas. “We’re hoping you can tell us.”
Lucas slides the image into his wallet and tucks it back into his pocket. “Is she coming to get you?”
Josh’s face is blank.
“Did she send you here?”
He shakes his head. Olivia and Lucas share a look. “So, she doesn’t know you’re here?”
He shrugs.
“Where did she go?” Lucas asks.
“Gone,” Josh says.
Lucas’s brows lift. “Gone where?”
Josh tugs his lip.
“Where’d she go?”
“Gone,” Josh repeats.
“Yeah, but where?”
“Gone . . . gone. Gone!” He wipes his arms in front of him.
Olivia grasps the chair and whispers, “He thinks she’s dead.” His eyes shine with fear, and her body tingles with it. Why would he have tried to give her Lily’s number last night if he knows she’s not alive to answer her phone?
“We don’t know that.” Lucas glances at her. “Did she leave you?” he asks Josh.
“Gone,” Josh shouts. He shoves the table and unexpectedly stands. Empty dishes from lunch rattle and pencils roll to the floor. He shoulders his backpack and stomps from the kitchen. The front door slams.
“Where’s he going?” Olivia moves quickly. Lucas follows. They run to the living room window. “Thank god.” He’s still here. He drops onto the bottom porch step and buries his face in his hands. His shoulders shake.
“That went well,” Lucas drawls. “I’ll go talk to him.”
She grasps his forearm. “Not yet. Let him chill.” Drives her nuts when people press her to talk and she’s not ready. She watches Josh through the window and her heart tugs. Poor kid.
“He needs his dad, not me.” Lucas gives her a murderous grin. “Got Ethan’s number?”
She flips him off.
Lucas chuckles. He jams his feet into his work boots and crouches on the floor to tie them. “What does he mean when he says Lily’s gone?”
“I think he thinks she’s dead.”
“I know, you said that. I’m not convinced.” Lucas grunts, standing. He picks up his sweatshirt and throws it on his shoulder. “He doesn’t know what happened to her.”
She hopes he’s right. “What makes you think so?”
He shrugs. “Gut feeling. I’ll sit with him for a bit, see if he tells me anything, then I got to get back to work.”
Olivia pulls her hair off her face. Lucas is right. She shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Josh confuses words. Lily could know he’s here. She could still show up.
She walks with Lucas to the door. “Thanks for trying.”
“Anytime.” He opens the front door. “Hey, how’s Blaze?”
She quirks a brow. “Like you care?” His grip tightens on the knob and she glances away. Yeah, that wasn’t nice of her.