“Hey, Ash,” she says and waves at her other brother. With less dramatics than her mom, Calypso introduces us. “This is Liam, Lucas’s cousin. And these are my brothers, Asher and Hudson.”
“Hey, man,” Asher says in a laid-back tone, but he assesses me for a long moment. He seems friendly though, not as guarded as Calypso warned.
“Nice to meet you,” I say and offer him my hand. He takes it and more of his demeanor warms.
Hudson clears his throat. “Hey.” He holds out his hand, and I take it. “We’ve met a few times.”
My brows raise. Assessing him, I try to place him in my memories. He looks vaguely familiar, mostly from the fact he has heterochromia—one bright green eye and one hazel. “We have? Were you and Lucas friends?”
It has been close to a decade since I last visited Amada Beach; I don’t remember everyone I met.
He shakes his head. “I worked at Stanley’s hardware store in high school. He’d let me help on some of the small repairs and projects—fixing someone’s rain gutter or painting a garage. Stuff like that.”
Sounds like Stanley, and exactly how I ended up with Mikey as an employee.
It was twelve years ago that I spent my last summer here. The image of teenage Hudson starts to come into focus but it’s fuzzy. I liked spending time with Stanley, and my interest in his work was how we got to this point in our lives. Plus, he hoped he would exhaust me enough to keep me from finding more trouble. It didn’t work.
“Yeah, I remember you,” I say. He was quiet, I think, always kept to himself, but Stanley loved the kid. “Sorry about that.”
He shakes his head again. “Don’t worry about it.”
Asher, still leaning against his sister, asks with a shit-eating grin, “Should we be worried about Calypso having to bail you out of jail for public urination?”
Hudson adds, “Or arson.”
I roll my eyes in jest. When Mia’s high school boyfriend broke up with her, we burned everything he gifted her. The giant teddy bear was more flammable than any of us expected,almostcatching their back tree on fire. We put it out before anything serious happened. They probably don’t know the details, just that one of the neighbors called thefire department on us. It’s not the first time someone has brought up the memory.
“It was acontrolledfire,” I insist and slip my hands in my pocket, shrugging. It’s the only way I can stop myself from rubbing my hand down my neck, a tell-tale sign I’m nervous. Playing off my nonchalance with Calypso is one thing, but I actually want her brothers to like me.
Calypso’s shaking her head in amusement. “And this entire time you’ve been worriedI’dbe the one arrested.”
Both of her brothers’ heads turn down to her in confusion and worry.
Rolling her eyes, she waves them off and slips out of Asher’s hold. She focuses on cleaning the grill. “For physically assaulting a man at a bar.”
They both nod as if it makes perfect sense.
“True,” Asher mutters.
Tilting his head, Hudson asks, “Not Stefan?”
Calypso sighs and gives me an annoyed look.
I hold my hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say anything—you’ve been here the whole time.”
I won’t break that promise to Calypso, no matter how badly I want to. Especially because she deleted the goddamn voicemail Stefan left her. At least that’s what she said when I asked to hear it a few days ago. However, I’m not upset that Hudson brought up the topic either.
Now they have some form of an idea that Stefan needs to be watched when it comes to their sister.
“We know he’s back in town. Has he been lurking around?” Hudson asks. His voice is low and quiet, trying to offer his sister some privacy.
I empathize with their concern for her. Despite being younger, it’s clear they care about each other deeply and want to protect her. Knowing Calypso better, I have to fight the urge to shield their inquisition, to pull the attention away from her and the topic she wants to avoid. Unless sheasks me to, I won’t overstep into a conversation between her and her siblings.
Calypso puts a little more elbow grease into her scrubbing, giving away her discomfort. Asher’s staring at her with furrowed brows and Hudson is standing tall, arms crossed.
She shakes her head but avoids eye contact. “Stefan saw Liam and me at the farmer’s market. He was with Ruby—”
“Who the fuck is Ruby?” Asher asks, perplexed. Both of her brothers look at me, trying to grasp for answers.
