Just for the Summer(42)

He was studying me quietly, listening.

“Usually Maddy is on the island. And Mom is on the island. Everyone else is on the shore. And sometimes I wish I could go get them, but I just… can’t. I don’t have the space for them. And I know that it hurts people, but it’s just who I am. And it makes me feel like a horrible person.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think you’re a horrible person. I think you went through something horrible and that’s who you needed to become to get through it.”

“Maybe.” I had to look away from him. “I’m sorry. I’m just in a funk today.”

He dipped his head to look me in the eye. “You only have two people on your island and you’re worried about one and fighting with the other one. I’d be in a funk too.”

I gave him a little smile. “You know, I was almost too small to come here tonight.”

“I’m glad you did.”

The corner of my lip turned up. “I’m glad I did too.”

CHAPTER 15

JUSTIN

Emma helped give Chelsea a bath, then changed her Band-Aid afterward. It was just a Band-Aid, but watching how gentle and sweet Emma was with my sister made me smile.

After that we moved to the living room and sat on the sofa to watch Frozen, me at one end and Emma at the other because Chelsea wanted to be in the middle curled up against me. Brad jumped into my lap and I was officially buried.

Emma smiled at me from the other end of the couch. “You’re like a docking station for small vulnerable dependents.”

“Well, we all need a job.”

She laughed.

When Chelsea fell asleep, I carried her up to bed. When I came down, I sat back in my corner. I didn’t want to assume Emma wanted me closer.

She looked at me, amused. “All the way over there?”

“Well, I don’t want to crowd you. Though the docking station is available if you’d like to give it a try.”

She made a show of thinking about it. “You know, I would like to give it a try. See what all the fuss is about.”

I grinned and made a come-here motion with my hand and she scooted over and let me put an arm around her. The highlight of my entire week, hands down.

“So what do you want to watch?” I asked, hoping she couldn’t feel my heart racing, though I was pretty sure she could.

She tilted her head up and her mouth was very close to mine. “Whatever you want.”

“Okay. Hellraiser it is.”

“Ha.”

I picked up the remote and started scrolling. “How about The Sopranos?”

“Sure. But from the beginning though. It’s been a few years.”

“Got it.” I was scrolling down to season one when my phone pinged on the coffee table. “Sorry, I leave the ringer up when I’m babysitting,” I said.

I looked at my screen and cracked up. “Look what Brad just sent me.”

It was a picture of a shirt with the Toilet King on it and a text that said, “Your birthday gift motherfucker.”

She laughed. “When is your birthday?” she asked.

“Not until next year. When’s your birthday?”

“In a few weeks, actually.”

“Oh. Well, do you have plans? Can I take you out?” I asked.

“It’ll be after my contract’s up.”

Her way of saying she wouldn’t be here for it. I only got to feel disappointed for a second before my phone pinged again.

“Sorry,” I said, looking at it. “It’s my mom. I have to reply to this.”

I took my arm away from Emma and typed a short message about Sarah being home and Chelsea being in bed.

“What time does she get home?” Emma asked.

“I don’t know. Midnight?”

She must have heard the tone in my voice.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing.” I hit send and put my phone away. But when I went to put my arm back around her, she didn’t scoot in.

“It doesn’t feel like nothing,” she said.

I looked away from her. “She’s dealing with some pretty serious legal issues at the moment.”

“For what?”

I paused, not sure how much I wanted to share. I decided on all of it. Emma was going to be here when it all hit the fan anyway, so there was no point in keeping her in the dark.

“She’s going to prison.” I stopped because the next part was hard to say out loud. In fact, I had never done it with anyone besides Brad and Benny. “She embezzled money. A lot of money.”

Emma just stared at me.

“She wrote herself fake checks. She was doing it for the better part of a year. She got caught.”

“Had she ever done anything like that before?” she asked.

“No. Never. She didn’t have any priors, not even a speeding ticket,” I said. “We hoped for a slap on the wrist, probation, restitution. Even her old boss asked for leniency.” I shook my head. “She didn’t get it. She worked for a nonprofit and almost put it out of business. It pissed off the judge. He gave her some time to get her affairs in order, then she has to turn herself in. She got six years.”

“Oh my God,” Emma breathed. “How much did she take?”