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“And Joshuaishurt,” Cricket chimed in.
“Wait,” said the tinny voice on the line. “Someone’smissing? Someone’s hurt?”
“Well,” answered Bruce. “One of our party decided to leave. There seems to be some confusion about where she might be. And one of our group, as I mentioned, was on the road when the tree came down. He had a minor accident and has a cut on his head.”
Did it sound like he was underplaying it all? Why would he do that? Her husband didn’t like drama, but...
“Seriously,” said Joshua. “I’m totally fine.”
Another pause. “Okay,” said Bracken drawing out the syllable. “Do we need to call the police? An ambulance?”
It couldn’t be, but it almost sounded like he was being sarcastic, taunting.
“What the hell good is that going to do?” said Mako. “No one can get to us anyway, right? Just move that goddamn tree so we can get out of here.”
Hannah found herself staring at her brother now, waves of anxiety pulsing through her; shehatedit when he got this way.
She remembered another night standing in a darkened room with him, that same look of anger and fear etched into his face. It was their parents’ bedroom that time, Sophia and Leo away for the weekend, Mako and Hannah left alone to take care of the house, each other. They were supposedly old enough—Hannah sixteen, Mako eighteen and headed off for college in a few weeks.
She remembered the girl in Hannah’s parents’ bed, naked, so skinny she looked like a child, sick from drinking too much, her vomit on the floor. She had been curled up and weeping. Downstairs the music from a party that had gone out of control pulsed through the floor.
Blood. There was blood on the sheets that night, too.
What did you do, Mickey?
She wanted it. She said she did.
She shook away the memory. Ancient history.
“Okay,” said the host, sounding tight and annoyed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“You do that,” said Mickey, voice heavy with sarcasm.
Another pause, then the beeps that announced the end of the call.
“You’re such a dick,” said Hannah with a lash of anger that surprised even her. “Could you have been any ruder?”
“Ha,I’m a dick?” said Mako. “That guy was useless. Do you know what I paid for this place?”
She felt a familiar rise of annoyance at her brother, for his selfishness, for his entitlement, for how he always had to remind everyone around him what he had and how much he’d paid for it like an insecure little boy. That’s why Bruce had wanted to pay their way; he didn’t want the cost of the place lorded over them in a million different ways. It was also, she knew, part of the reason that Bruce was so eager to leave the place they were renting from Mako. Mako would only take a fraction of what it was worth month to month. But it came up over and over, casually, in jest.You guys are practically living rent-free, haha, he might joke at dinner with their parents.I really need to charge more for this place, he said every time he came to visit.
“Mickey, just stop,” she said.
“What?” he asked shrilly. “What the fuck did I do?”
She turned away from him, caught Bruce’s expression again. The disdain she saw there, before he was aware that she was looking at him, it surprised her. Wow, did he actually hate Mako? Some things clicked into place, how hard he’d been working to get off Mako’s project, how enthusiastic he was about the new house, how he hadn’t really wanted to come here at all and she knew it. He was trying to get out from under Mako’s thumb. That was what he couldn’t live with. It was Mako.
I’m sorry, she found herself wanting to say. She and Bruce locked eyes; it was all there. They knew each other so well. How had she not seen this layer before? Because she was blind when it came to her brother, willfully blind. Always had been. She wanted so badly for them all to be close, for that fantasy she had about their future to be true.
She was just like Mako that way, how he’d forced them all here for some Instagram-able friends and family moment, just another thing to feed his ego.
Something about the storm, and Liza missing, and Joshua hurt, their all being trapped—things seemed clear. Too clear.God, she thought.Poor Bruce.
Mako got up quickly from his slouch, as if he’d reached some internal decision, and moved for the back door, pulled it open.
The wind rushed in howling; the rain roared, thunder distant.
“What are you doing?” Hannah shouted.
