SALVAGE PRIDE

4

I sigh heavily.

Not only had I hoped to relax but working at the house might mean running into Zeno for a second time. Not that it’s my problem—he’s the one with issues. I simply prefer to avoid his brooding negativity on my vacation if possible. However, if I don’t join my family and help at the main house, I’ll hardly see them at all, and that was the whole point of visiting. If alone time had been my goal, I could have crashed at a friend’s apartment for the week.

My eyes drift to Gia, who gazes back at me warmly. Any complaints I might have staged melt away at the reminder of her gentle grace and the sight of my father’s apologetic smile.

“All right, let’s head on over. You can update me on what still needs to be done on the way.”

Dad drops a tender kiss on my forehead, chasing away my irritation. “Having you here means the world to me,” he whispers.

I am never happier than when I am the center of my father’s world, which is often the case as he makes no effort to hide his favoritism. He has my heart, just as I have his, and despite my mother’s manipulations and Zeno’s looming presence, I will always stand at my father’s side if he needs me. After all, it’s only a few days. How bad could it be?

MY PARENTS USE A GOLF CART TO SHUTTLE THEM BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN HARDWICK AND THEIR cottage. Fitting all six of us is a tight squeeze, so Gia and I offer to walk to the main house. We prefer to catch up privately, anyway. Mom and the younger girls quickly dismiss joining us because of the rising heat. I can’t totally fault them. It’s not even a quarter of a mile between the main house and our cottage, but it can feel like longer when the sun amplifies the humidity. They slide into their seats and wave as the cart lurches forward.

“This may not be your ideal vacay, but I’m glad you’ll be around to keep me company.” Gia bumps my shoulder as we walk through the tall grass.

“I’m happy to help. Mom just makes me twitchy.”

“Mom? There isn’t someone else that made you hesitant to join us at the main house?” Even an older sister as angelic as Gia finds joy in goading a younger sibling.

“You’re right. Livia is more obnoxious than ever.”

Gia snorts. “You know that’s not who I meant.”

I shoot her a look from the side of my eye. “If it’s Zeno you’re referring to, I’d have to care in order for him to rile me up. He hasn’t been a part of my world in a very, very long time.”

“I suppose. Some people stay with us no matter how long it’s been since we were close.” Her words resonate with me in a way I don’t care to analyze.

“You sound awfully sage for someone who’s hardly stepped foot from her Hardwick bubble.”

She shrugs. “You don’t have to live in the city to learn to read people.”

“You’re right, of course, except that there are a lot more learning opportunities when there are more people. You would have loved my world literature professor last semester. Maybe you two would have hit it off, but I guess we’ll never know.”

“Is that the same guy you told me had a stain on every shirt he owned?”

A laugh tumbles past my lips from deep in my belly. “Yeah, but that’s why he needs someone like you. Someone who loves to take care of people.”

Gia shakes her head, but the corners of her lips hook upward. “One more year?”

“Yeah, I’ve got just enough money saved up for tuition and expenses so that I can limit how many hours I have to work. I’m so ready to get my degree and move on.”

“It’s been, what? Five years?”

“Almost six,” I grumble. “But I’ve done it all mostly on my own.”

“Who cares if you had to spread it out so that you had time to work—that makes it all the more impressive. You’re so determined!”

“I am now, but that wasn’t the case early on. If I’d gone straight to college when I graduated high school, I could have been finished by now. Better late than never, right?”

“Absolutely.”

Two birds lift off from the grassy covering ahead of us, drawing my eyes skyward. The sun is pushing higher in a clear sky that promises to be a perfect summer day.

“What else has been going on around here that I might have missed?” I talk to my sister regularly on the phone, but she is always more tight-lipped than when we talk in person. She’s one of those maddening internal processors who doesn’t think to pass on information. It’s not that she necessarily makes it a habit not to gossip, but it simply doesn’t occur to her. I have to draw the information out if I ever want to learn anything. As I said, it’s maddening.

“Nothing, really. Like Mom said, Anna, the kitchen girl, quit. Well, she didn’t quit so much as disappear. She was with us for nearly six months when … poof. Gone. She just never showed up for work one day. People do that all the time, but I didn’t expect it from her.”

“How strange!” I think back to whether I’d met the girl and draw a blank. I rarely see the other staff when I visit and have only been home once during the past six months. I may not have met her, but a sudden departure doesn’t necessarily surprise me. Mom supervises the in-house workers, so I could understand if the girl had gotten so fed up that she walked away. If I worked for my mom, I

would probably do the same.