“Thanks.”
When the call ended, Essie sat for a moment longer, phone resting in her lap. In the other room, she could hear Frank talking to Sophie. Didn’t sound like it was going all that great, but like Liliana had said, Sophie had to figure this out.
Essie got up. She and Frank should get outside. Walk the beach. Let themselves enjoy the day. The worry was still there, of course, but it no longer felt like something that was going to break her.
Sophie would have to find her own way through this.
All Essie and Frank could do was be ready when she did.
Chapter Forty
Maude had fallen asleep on the couch. She woke to a kink in her neck and the unmistakable realization that she was too old not to sleep on a properly supportive mattress. Aging was so much fun.
Sunlight slanted through the blinds with enough ferocity that she knew it wasn’t super early. For a disorienting second, she couldn’t remember why she’d hadn’t gone to bed like a reasonable person.
Then it came back to her.
Robbie. She’d been waiting up for him, but he’d never shown.
She pushed herself upright, wincing as her spine protested. The house was quieter than it should have been. There were no footsteps clomping around in the loft. No rustling in the kitchen. No too-loud clearing of a throat that would announce her brother’s presence before his words ever could.
Her first thought was,Of coursehe didn’t arrive when he said he would. Her second was,Please let him be okay.
Maude reached for her phone on the coffee table. Before she could unlock the screen, there was a knock at the door.
It wasn’t loud. It almost sounded apologetic.
Her heart leapt and sank all at once. Maude crossed the tiny living room and opened the door.
Robbie stood there, rumpled and unshaven, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, eyes tired in that way that spoke of a night spent thinking too much. His old Toyota pickup was in her driveway, the windows of the cab on the back blocked with boxes and tools.
He looked older than he had the last time she’d seen him. Or maybe she was just seeing him more clearly now.
“Hey, Maude,” he said softly.
Relief hit first, followed immediately by irritation she didn’t bother to hide. “What the heck, Robbie? You were supposed to be here last night,” she said. “I waited up.”
“I know.” He shifted his weight, glancing down at the porch. “I meant to. I really did.”
“What happened?”
He hesitated, then blew out a breath. “Everything sort of…piled up. I had some car trouble, but I got that taken care of. Then I stopped for coffee and just sat there in my car longer than I planned. I think I panicked.”
Maude folded her arms, mostly so she didn’t punch her brother in the arm. “You didn’t think to text?”
“I did think about it,” he said quickly. “A dozen times. I just couldn’t bring myself to explain why I was spiraling like a teenager at a gas station off the highway.”
Her irritation was replaced by something more akin to concern. Didn’t mean she wasn’t still upset that he’d made her worry. “You could have saidsomething.”
“I know.” He met her eyes then, earnest and a little broken. “I didn’t want to show up a mess.”
She sighed, her mood relaxing as the last of her irritation disappeared. “Robbie, this isme. Your sister.”
A faint smile flickered across his face, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “That’s kind of why it’s harder.”
Maude stepped aside and opened the door wider. “Come in. You look like you need coffee.” She wrinkled her nose. “And a shower.”
He blinked, surprised. “You’re…not mad?”
