Chương 4
“You’re staying at the hotel.”
His face tightened.
“Em.”
“I can’t be next to you tonight.”
“I understand.”
“Please don’t say that either.”
He swallowed.
“Okay.”
Caroline gave a humorless little laugh.
Emily turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No. What?”
“You hit him and he’s still apologizing.”
Emily looked at Daniel’s red cheek.
Shame moved through her.
She had been avoiding it.
Now it settled fully.
She looked at him.
“I shouldn’t have hit you.”
Daniel seemed startled.
“I’m not saying the rest is okay,” she continued. “I’m saying I shouldn’t have done that.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
Caroline rolled her eyes.
Emily saw it.
“That bothers you?”
“What?”
“That I apologized.”
“No.”
“You always hated when people apologized.”
“That is ridiculous.”
“You used to say apologies were how people got out of consequences.”
“I was nineteen.”
“You were thirty-four the last time you said it.”
Margaret looked at the sky.
“We need to go inside before dark.”
Caroline turned toward the house.
“I’m not leaving.”
Emily said, “Neither am I.”
Caroline stopped.
“This is still my house too.”
“Then I guess we’re having a sleepover.”
Daniel made an involuntary sound that might have been a laugh.
All three women looked at him.
“Sorry,” he said.
It was the first remotely normal thing that had happened.
Emily hated herself for almost laughing too.
Inside, the chalet smelled faintly of cedar smoke even though no fire had been lit since their father died. Robert had insisted on storing split wood beside the fireplace year-round, and the scent had worked itself into the rugs and curtains.
Emily left her boots by the entrance.
Her father’s brown slippers were under the bench.
She stared at them.
Caroline walked past and nudged one accidentally with her heel.
It turned sideways.
She stopped, bent down, and put it back exactly where it had been.
Emily watched her.
Caroline noticed.
Neither said anything.
Margaret claimed the dining table for the documents.
Daniel brought in the luggage but left his duffel beside the front door.
No one asked him to stay.
The moving boxes remained in the foyer.
Emily took her father’s scarf off the top and folded it once, then again. It smelled like the closet upstairs and a little like his aftershave.
Caroline watched from the kitchen.
“That one was supposed to go with him.”
Emily looked up.
“What?”
“The funeral director asked us to bring something personal.”
“You were going to bury his scarf?”
“It was his favorite.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Yes, it was.”
“He hated green.”
“He wore that every morning last winter.”
“Because Mom gave it to him.”
“Exactly.”
“That doesn’t make it his favorite.”
Caroline stared at her.
Then something in her face softened.
“He complained about it every time.”
Emily looked at the scarf.
“He said it made him look like a substitute teacher.”
Caroline’s mouth twitched.
“He said divorced substitute teacher.”
Emily laughed once.
The sound hurt.
Caroline looked down at the counter.
For several seconds they were sisters again.
Then Margaret said, “I need the Wi-Fi password.”
The moment vanished.
Caroline answered without looking up.
“HarperRidge1979. Capital H, capital R.”
“That’s Dad and Mom’s anniversary,” Emily said.
“I know.”
“I know you know.”
“I was answering Margaret.”
“You were twelve when they got married.”
“Yes, Emily. I am aware of my own age.”
Daniel quietly picked up his bag.
“I’m going to the hotel.”
Emily turned.
He had his coat zipped and the keys in his hand.
“Take the SUV.”
“How will you get around?”
“Caroline has a car.”
Caroline said, “Don’t volunteer my car.”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“I’ll call a ride.”
“There aren’t rides out here at night,” Margaret said.
He gave her an almost grateful look.
“I’ll take your car and come back for you.”
“I am staying in town.”
“I can drive you.”
Emily said, “Take the SUV.”
Daniel looked at her.
She could see that he wanted to say something larger.
He chose not to.
“Okay.”
At the door, he stopped.
“Emily.”
Her shoulders stiffened.
“I really did think it was insurance.”
She looked at him.
“I believe you.”
Relief flickered across his face.
Then she added, “That’s not the same as trusting you.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
He left.
The SUV engine started outside.
Emily stood at the window until the taillights disappeared through the trees.
Her mother called twenty minutes later.
Emily almost ignored it.
Caroline saw the screen.
“Answer her.”
“I know.”
“She’s been anxious all day.”
“I said I know.”
Emily took the call in her father’s study.
Her mother’s face appeared too close to the camera at first, pale and softly wrinkled, silver hair flattened on one side from the recliner at Caroline’s house where she had been sleeping since the hospital.
“Are you there?”
“Yes.”
“How are the roads?”
“Fine.”
“Daniel driving too fast?”
“No.”
“Tell him your father always thought four-wheel drive meant men could ignore physics.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Her mother smiled faintly.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You look strange.”
“I’m tired.”
“So am I.”
Elaine shifted the phone. A television played softly somewhere behind her.
“Caroline told me she had to run up there for some papers. Is she still there?”
Emily looked toward the closed study door.
“Yes.”
“Don’t fight.”
“Mom.”
“I mean it.”
“Did you sign anything about the chalet?”
Elaine went still.
The television continued behind her.
“What?”
“Recently. A deed. Property papers.”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
Her mother looked offended.
“I know when I sign my name.”
“Did Caroline bring you anything to sign?”
A pause.
“Insurance things.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
“When?”
“I don’t know. Last week. The week before.”
“What insurance things?”
“Your father handled all that.”
“Mom.”
“I said I don’t know.”
“Did you sign them?”
“I signed one thing about the furnace.”
“The furnace?”
“They replaced something.”
Emily pressed her fingers against her forehead.
“Did you sign a deed?”
“No.”
“Did you sign anything in front of a notary?”
Elaine blinked.
“What happened?”
May you like
Emily looked at the darkened window.
She could see her own reflection and the room behind her. Robert’s desk. The brass reading lamp. A stack of magazines he would never finish.
