“I was,” she admitted. “Now I’m just tired and relieved you’re here.” She paused. “We’re still going to talk. Just not before caffeine.”
Robbie nodded, gratitude plain on his face as he crossed the threshold. “Deal. Hey, this is nice.”
“Thanks.” As she closed the door behind him, Maude felt the energy in the house change. It was subtle, but unmistakable. Her quiet little sanctuary was now filled with a new weight.
But at least Robbie was here.
Maude started coffee before either of them said much else. The familiar sounds of scooping of grounds, the gurgling of water, the smallpffftas the machine started, gave her a strange comfort.
Robbie hovered near the counter like he didn’t know what to do with himself but didn’t want to get in her way.
They took their mugs out to the porch, the morning warm but not unbearable. Robbie sank into one of the chairs with a grateful sigh, cradling the cup between both hands. Maude sat across from him, watching his foot bounce against the boards of the porch.
She took a sip. When he didn’t say anything, she took over. “So,” she said gently, “what’s really going on?”
Robbie shrugged, staring out at the path that wound through the Colony. “Nothing big. Just…needed a change of scenery.”
Maude knew that wasn’t true, but she waited. She’d learned with Robbie that silence worked better than pressure.
He kept talking anyway. “This place is nice. You picked well. I like the palms. You can even see the Gulf from here. And the whole tiny house setup seems very you.” He smiled faintly. “Fits your whole minimalist, have-your-life-together thing.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Robert.” She hoped using his full name would get him to focus.
He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Okay, okay. Work hasn’t been great.”
“In what way?”
He waved a hand. “Fewer hours. Clients dragging their feet. You know how it is.”
“No, actually,” she said evenly. “I don’t. Construction is a foreign language to me.”
Robbie huffed out a laugh, then glanced at his coffee like it might offer a lifeline. “I didn’t expect you to interrogate me before breakfast.”
“I didn’t expect my brother to drive all night, not show up, and then pretend this is a vacation,” Maude said. If that sounded a little harsh, so be it. He was the one who needed help. Not her. “You came to me for a reason.”
He leaned back, exhaling slowly. “You always do this.”
“Do what?”
“Make me talk.”
Maude folded her hands around her mug. “That’s my job as your sister.”
He took another sip of coffee, then cleared his throat. “I’m just a little burned out. Thought being near the water might help.”
She nodded. “Okay. And?”
“And…I don’t know how long I’m staying,” he added quickly. “Just until I get my head screwed back on straight.”
Maude’s gaze softened. “Robbie.”
He kept going, faster now, words tumbling over each other. “We don’t have to talk about it this morning. Or ever, really. I just needed a place to land. You’re good at…being that place.”
Yeah, because Mom and Dad would have asked even more questions.She stood and moved to the chair beside him, sitting close enough that their knees nearly touched. “You’re running,” she said quietly. “And I don’t think it’s from work.”
His jaw tightened. He drank more coffee.
She waited again.
