That is, if I’d ever known him as something other than my brother’s oversexed, insufferable best friend.
Frankly, it doesn’t mean much to me that he’s here but I’m sure Danny feels differently.
The soda spill on the area rug taunts me. I can’t stand looking at it for another second.
After retrieving a stack of napkins from the dining room, I drop them on the floor and press with the tip of my shoe to blot the liquid. “Did you know Trent was coming today?”
“No, but I also didn’t know he’d moved back into his old house.”
I nearly lose my balance. “What are you talking about?”
Danny glances down the hall to the den. The girls are singing again. “Kind of threw me for a loop too. Yeah, he’s back here in Lake Stuart. He lives down the street again.”
“He must have pulled some strings to keep that news quiet in a town like this.”
Danny shrugs.
My efforts with the napkins are not worth much and I give up.
Danny decides it’s time to rescue Trent from the world of ice princesses and sing alongs in the den.
“Everyone’s gone,” Caitlin observes as she looks at the empty living room.
“Not everyone.” I crouch down to her level and speak gently. “I’m here. Uncle Danny’s here.”
Mara slides close and puts her arms around my neck. “I’m tired, Aunt Gretch.”
I kiss her cheek. “You were both up early this morning.” I reach for Caitlin but she holds back. She’s by far the more independent twin. And the more willful.
Caitlin raises her chin. “I don’t want to leave my house.”
“We’re not going anywhere, sweetie.”
“I heard this lady say we would have to leave.”
“What lady?”
“She had very long orange nails.”
“Then she suffers from bad taste along with ignorance.”
“What’s ignorance?” Mara asks.
“It means the lady with the orange nails is a fucking bitch,” Danny grumbles.
Mara nods. “Oh.”
My brother receives a roll of my eyes, which he ignores.
Jules made sure the house was placed in a family trust and I am the executor. There is no mortgage, only the property taxes and the upkeep. We can stay right here in Lake Stuart forever. With the harsh winters and the teeming crowds of summer people and the corpse of Rosebriar staring down from the hills.
Forever.
There’s inexplicable heat on the back of my neck. When I turn around, I find Trent staring at me. He stands less than ten feet away at the edge of the hallway and his dark eyes refuse to waver. I end up looking away first.
Caitlin yawns next. Mara rests her head on my shoulder. They are so small, just babies. Their mother was their world.
“Why don’t we go upstairs?” I suggest. “You can both take a bubble bath and bring any toy you want in the tub.” I try to use a bright, upbeat tone when I talk to them, the way Jules would. I’m a terrible actress.
Caitlin looks like she might argue but then she nods. She links hands with her sister and I steer them toward the stairs.
“I’ll be right up,” I promise and breathe through the threat of tears.
Trent’s voice comes from behind me. “Hey girls, thanks for teaching me all about Frozen.”
The two of them pause on the first step and look back.
They reward him with identical smiles.
“Bye, Trentcassini.” Mara waves with her free hand.
“You need to come over again,” Caitlin demands and seems to consider the matter settled.
“I’ll do that,” says Trent.
Danny waits until they are out of earshot before speaking up. “Gretch, you need me for anything else right now?”
“Do you have a date or something?” I ask, with more attitude than I intend.
He huffs with annoyance. “No. I’m just no good at helping with bath time or bed time or whatever. If you don’t need me to do anything I thought I’d go back to the carriage house and catch up with Trent.”
There’s an extra bedroom right here in the main house but since his arrival Danny has preferred to stay out back. I wonder if he’s planning to remain out there permanently.
Or if he’s really planning to stay at all.
“No, I don’t need you, Danny.”
He doesn’t catch the icy shade to my words and gestures to Trent. “How about it?”
“Sure,” Trent answers but I could swear a shadow of disapproval crosses his face.
Daniel still lives like he’s on perpetual spring break. The only thing he cares about is training to get back into the majors. Otherwise, his world is one of clubs and parties and women and he has never shown the slightest interest in being taken seriously.
Jules understood our brother as well as I did, maybe better. She had to know Danny isn’t cut out to be anyone’s father figure but she gave him equal responsibility for the girls.
I don’t quite understand why.
He and Trent are already heading outside through the kitchen door. Danny is saying something about the good old days of varsity baseball at Lake Stuart High.
With a sigh, I slip my heels off before climbing the stairs. I don’t want to keep the girls waiting.
They are both listless and sleepy during their bath. A social worker called yesterday and offered to forward some information for family grief counseling. I will need to look into that.
They want to sleep in the same bed again. Usually they love having their own rooms but for now all they want is each other. I understand. There’s nothing quite so comforting as the love of a sister. I’d give anything to have mine right now.
“Good night.” I tuck a lavender quilt around their little bodies and kiss their precious faces.
Mara clings to my neck.
Caitlin rolls over to look at me. “Are we orphans now?”
“I don’t know,” I tell her and immediately get irritated with myself for being unprepared to answer this question.
I truly don’t know. Their father is likely alive somewhere but if he hasn’t shown an interest in them yet then he’s not going to.
Funny, but I haven’t thought much about their father until three days ago. It always seemed as if the girls belonged to Jules alone and that was that.
Caitlin and Mara fall asleep quickly. I sit in a tiny wooden chair and don’t leave the room until I’m sure their breathing is deep and even.
“Sweet dreams, princesses,” I whisper. I blow them a kiss and shut the door only halfway in case they call out during the night. The stenciled characters on the walls, all from classic children’s stories, lapse into shadow and I wonder for the first time why so many of those stories include morbid details about death and orphaned children.
Earlier, I felt exhausted but I don’t think I could sleep now. My suitcase is up here in Caitlin’s bedroom. The downstairs suite feels too far right now and I haven’t been able to bring myself to go into Jules’s room yet. I rummage through my suitcase and discover slippers that I don’t remember packing but am glad to see.
My thickest cable knit cardigan is pulled on over my dress because I’m shivering now. The second floor of this house has always been inadequately heated. I should find someone to fix that. I’ll also need to find a way to pay for it.