Page 48 of All the way home

Rena asks, “Could you repeat that?”

“Do we need a contingency plan?”

Rena blinks. “For what?”

“Kieran.”

“Mum,” Rena says, horrified, covering her mouth with her hand.

Lucas looks up from his book.

“You never know,” Mum says. “We didn’t see it coming the first time.”

Reeling, Rena blinks hard. “I know, but . . . a contingency plan?” She catches Lucas’s eye, leaning slightly closer so he can hear as he closes the book. “How would we even—?”

The unasked question pops like a bubble, reigniting that seething blaze of fear she’s been trying to ignore all year. She can already hear what Mum would say, a repeat of everything she’s already said: Kieran’s hard to reach. He’s just processing. If you didn’t shut down what he had to say every time he tried to say it, maybe he’d be more honest with you. He’s not talking to me either. I know you’re worried. So am I.

“What has he said to you?” Rena asks, voice rising. “Mum, if he’s at risk, I—”

“At risk of what?”

Swallowing hard, Rena catches Lucas’s eye. He lifts a shoulder.

“I just don’t know how we’d plan for something like that,” Rena says, embarrassed to find herself on the edge of tears. For twelve months, they’ve done everything but talk about this directly, and Mum’s casual tone makes the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Nobody ever said it was Rena’s fault, but she’s always known it. “I’ve been watching him. He won’t talk about it.”

“Sweetheart, what are you referring to?”

Voice small, Rena says, “Last year, right?”

“Oh gosh. Oh no.” Mum lets out a harried, breathless laugh. “I’m not talking about that. I just—you know what happened last time he met someone.”

Rena relaxes into her seat, relief flooding through her like hot tea. “Oh. Yes. I mean . . . there’s nothing we can do about that either, right?”

“Rein him in before it gets too serious?”

Rena can’t tell if she’s joking. “Not sure that’s my jurisdiction at the moment.”

“Should I put together a breakup basket?”

Lucas ducks away so Mum won’t hear him laugh.

“I don’t know if we want to get in the habit of rewarding him for this kind of thing,” Rena says.

Instead of the dry retort she expects, there’s a distinct, awkward pause.

“There are two sides to every story,” Mum reminds her, at last. “At least two. You know that, right?”

“Well, I’d love to know his side of it, but he won’t tell me. So.”

“I know,” Mum says, gentler. “He’s hard to reach right now.”

“In more ways than one,” Rena grouses.

“Speaking of—will you please have him call me?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Wonderful, sweetheart. Thank you. How are you holding up?”