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Beth
It’s all Relative
We walk into foyer of my father’s house, hand in hand. Dina didn’t answer her phone again after she and Carter spoke and I have no idea what’s going on.
“Why would your mystery relative be here.” I ask while we stand there, waiting for someone to come and tell us what’s going on.
“Instead of responding, his eyes move to something over my shoulder. They widen, and his mouth falls open. The surprise there isn’t feigned.
I turn slowly, afraid to see what, after everything else that’s happened tonight, could make him look like that.
I see my father first.
He’s sitting slumped in a chair, his hair disheveled and his face as white as a ghost’s as he looks up at his prodigal son. I haven’t seen Phil since I was fifteen, but I would know the back of that dark head anywhere.
I walk toward them, and have the strangest sensation of wading through a graveyard.
Phil turns to face me and I am struck with a strange sense of déjà vu. I haven’t seen him since Dina’s wedding. He looks so much like my father. But there is something in the shape of his jaw, the cleft of his chin that reminds me of…someone else.
“Clover?” he says and looks me over from head to toe with wonder in his eyes too, but not for the same reasons as me. “You’re a woman.”
My father surges to his feet and comes to stand between us. His composure is restored, yet I get the distinct feeling that he’s nervous.
I glance at him.
He’s blinking rapidly, his face ashen, and there’s a bead of sweat on his ruthlessly clean shaven upper lip.
No. He’s not nervous. He’s afraid.
I glance back at Phil and he’s watching him, too. His expression is distinctly satisfied.
“What’s going on?” I demand of both of them.
“Let’s go to my office.” My father commands imperiously.
Phil scoffs in disgust. “I see nothing has changed. I’m not here to see you. I’m here because my brother has been looking for me.”
I let go of Carter’s hand and move to stand in front of him. I grab his arm and try to say this as gently as I can. “Phil, you don’t have a brother.”
He closes his eyes in anguish but not in surprise.
“Oh, but I do. Don’t I dad?”
I take a step away from him.
“What do you mean?”
“Carter Bosch. He’s my biological brother.”
I let go of his arm, stupefied.
Before I can utter a word, my father strides up to Phil, his expression scarily fierce, his voice lowered so that I have to crane to hear him. “We don’t know that.”
“Our DNA matches and you used to fuck anything that moved.”
“Sasha wasn’t like that.” He grits.
“Sasha Bosch?” It’s the first time Carter’s spoken and his voice sounds different. I turn around to face him. He starting at my father and my father is staring back at him.
