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Josie had ended up shutting her laptop with a bad taste in her mouth, a vow to never read those websites again and a mild headache, puzzling over the thought of how someone who was supposed to be a top athlete could get away with drinking all of that alcohol. Also, how do you get a nice suit that big? Did people get them custom made? Was that a thing? Probably.
She had a lot of questions, but she had also walked away feeling like she understood Luke’s feelings about his brother a little more now. Sawyer wasn’t just living in a different world than folks like them; he was in a different universe altogether, and hiscoming home to help was like having a visit from an alien. It was almost more nerve-racking than it was worth.
And even after all that, she was here, all giddy like an idiot, excited for tomorrow so that they could work together again. It had been fun. You couldn’t blame her for havingfun,could you?
Josie got as clean as she was able to get without having an actual shower and wandered out into the house that had been her second home for as long as she could remember. Luke was in the kitchen, washing up dishes and sliding them into the drying rack in a methodical rhythm, precise as always, even in his smallest tasks.
“Hey,” she said, leaning against the doorframe. Luke looked up from the sink and gave her a tired smile.
Josie tried not to look too concerned about his appearance. If she looked like a tired, dirty mess, Luke currently looked like he was half dead on his feet. His hair was standing on end the way it did when he ran his hands through it constantly, a habit he had when he was stressed, which was all the time lately. The dark circles under his eyes had been another permanent fixture lately, but today they looked like bruises, like someone had punched him square between the eyes.
Josie wasn’t going to bring it up, not now. Luke was probably well aware of how awful he looked. But she might try and talk to Sandy about it later to see if there was anything she could do to help that bit extra because, at this rate, Luke really might end up with one foot in the grave.
“You heading off?” he asked, finishing up the last few dishes and draining the sink with a gurgle.
“Yeah, got most of that front field’s fencing done today.”
Luke looked surprised. “Really?”
“What, you doubted me? How rude.”
“I’d never doubt you,” he said, sitting at the kitchen table with a sigh. “But Sawyer actually put some effort in, then?”
Josie nodded. “Yep. We had a system going pretty quick. Got the job done easy.”
Luke just gave her a blank look. “You sound like you had a good time.”
Josie shrugged, not sure when this had turned into an interrogation.
“Yeah, he was nice…” she said, sounding unsure of herself all of a sudden.
Luke laughed, and it was a cold and bitter-sounding thing. Josie crossed her arms, uncomfortable at the dark look that had flickered across her friend’s face. What had gotten into him lately?
“Yeah, well, I’m sure he was plentynice.” He rubbed a hand over his face.
“I thought he was, yes.” Were they even talking about the same person?
Luke just looked at her like he was having to explain something she should already understand, and Josie bristled.
“Spit it out,” she said, not bothering to hide her annoyance.
“You don’t know him like I do, that’s all.”
“So… youdon’twant us to get along while we work? I’m confused. Do you want sedition amongst your ranks, or do you want your fences fixed? Because it’s one or the other.”
Luke sighed, somehow looking even more tired, and Josie felt the guilt hit her again, then the annoyance, in a perfect little circle. She’d had such a good afternoon and now she was dealing with this… She was three seconds away from telling Luke to get a grip and take a nap or something.
“I just don’t want you to get pulled into his mess, Josie,” Luke said, looking like he knew he had over stepped, hands raised in a truce. “Our whole lives people have fawned over him, given him pats on the head just for turning up, just for existing.”
“All I said was that he was nice,” Josie said, on the defensive. Maybe Sawyer wasn’t in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize, but he wasn’t the one lecturing her right now.
“That’s great,” Luke said, sounding like it was anything but. “And I bet plenty of the people he goes to after-parties with think he’s nice too. But it wasn’t very nice when he left as soon as he could, as if this place was going to give him fleas. It wasn’t verynicewhen he stopped visiting, not for Christmas, not for Dad’s birthday… It wasn’t verynicewhen he stopped calling, either. The first time he was back here in almost a decade was for Dad’s funeral, and then he didn’t even stay the night; he left that afternoon. The next day he was at some billionaire’s pool party, living it up while I stayed behind and picked up the pieces like I’ve always done.”
Luke finished with a deep breath, staring at the surface of the table, his cheeks flushed from both anger and embarrassment. It wasn’t often that Josie was speechless, but right now words failed her.
“Have you ever actually said any of this to his face?” she asked, not used to feeling this cool and detached. She didn’t like it.
“No—”
