Everett looked wounded. If Adam didn’t know him better, he’d have said it was genuine. ‘We had no choice.’
Adam swallowed the last mouthful of water, throwing the empty plastic bottle into the recycling bin. It landed inside with a satisfying thud. ‘There’s always a choice.’ Not that he was particularly bothered about busting his brother’s balls over the phone call. That was the least of his misdemeanours.
‘Can’t we let bygones be bygones?’ Everett asked him. ‘It’s almost Christmas. Mom’s being released from the hospital. She deserves to have her family around her. All of us.’ He spoke louder to emphasise the last part, as though Adam hadn’t already gotten the point.
‘You’ve spent too long working in the movies,’ Adam pointed out. ‘You’re starting to believe in all that shit. Happily ever after and family reunions only happen on the screen. And you know why?’ His hands were still fisted. He held them tightly by his side. Everett couldn’t see them, they were obscured by the kitchen worktop, but if he could, he’d probably be pleased at the reaction he was getting. ‘Because they’re all fucking lies, every last one of them. They’re like that Ray Bradbury story where those guys land on Mars and it looks just like home – some kind of Rockwellian idyll with Mom and Pop and mash for tea. But then as soon as it’s night-time the masks melt, and the real aliens appear.’
‘And you’ve spent too long investigating the bad guys. You’re starting to see them everywhere, even when they’re not there. I’m your brother, Adam, not your enemy. Why can’t we just leave all that stuff behind?’
Adam grabbed a freshly laundered T-shirt from the basket beside him, pulling it over his head to cover his now-dry chest. Everett made it sound so easy, as though forgetting the past was like closing a door. Everett may have perfected the act of the good older brother, but Adam was older and wiser now.
He could smell bullshit from a hundred yards.
‘I’ll be civil to you for as long as you’re here,’ Adam said, keeping his voice low. ‘But don’t think it means anything because it doesn’t. I’ll do it for Mom and Dad, and I’ll do it for Jonas.’
Everett nodded. Standing up, he brushed the creases from his trousers. ‘I guess that’s it then.’
It was as far as Adam was concerned. He wanted Everett out of his home – of the place that had somehow become his sanctuary. And the sooner the better.
Everett cleared the distance to Adam’s front door, grabbing his snow jacket from the hook on the frame. ‘By the way, this place is a shithole, I can’t believe you live somewhere like this.’
Before Adam had a chance to reply his brother was gone, slamming the door shut behind him. The younger – and bigger – of the Klein brothers stood alone in the kitchen, his blood boiling.
As always, Everett had to have the last word.
6
Men in rage strike those that wish them best
– Othello
Her second night at Mountain’s Reach was as restless as her first. After putting Jonas to bed, Kitty lay open-eyed on the uncomfortable twin bed, her mind a whirl of thoughts that refused to let her drift off to sleep. In spite of the weather outside, her attic room was hot and stuffy, with a strange odour that tickled her nose. She tossed and turned until dawn came creeping through the cracks in the curtains. The outside sill was still lined with glistening snow, like a frosted cake. The emerging sunlight bounced off the icicles formed on the roof, reflecting the brightness in through the window.
This was her first Christmas away from home, away from the family that she held dear. Even though they were scattered across the world, she usually spent the holidays with at least one, if not more, of her sisters. This year, Cesca and Sam would be celebrating in London along with Lucy and their father. She could picture the four of them pulling crackers and telling stories around the crackling fire, surrounded by the same old ornaments they’d always put up, and a tree festooned with decorations they’d made when they were schoolgirls.
An unexpected wave of homesickness washed over her, as she thought of her sisters. Of Lucy, the eldest and the bossiest, of Juliet, the beautiful one. Of Cesca, the creative genius, who was riding a new wave of success. And then there was Kitty – the youngest of the four. And she’d been looking up to her sisters for so long, that without them beside her, she wasn’t always sure where she belonged.
A rap at her door made her sit up, pulling the sheets up to cover her pyjamas. ‘Hello?’ she called out.
The door cracked open to reveal Jonas. After they’d spent a day throwing snowballs and building snowmen, he’d thawed to her. By night-time, he was talking to her as though she was his new best friend, and when she read his bedtime story, he’d curled up against her like a cat.
Children were so easy when it came to relationships. It was a shame adults weren’t quite so simple.
‘Good morning, sunshine,’ Kitty said, giving him a smile. ‘Did you sleep well?’
‘It was OK.’ Jonas shrugged. ‘But we should get up now. It’s nearly eight o’clock, Dad’s gone out to a meeting but he’s left a list of instructions for you. He said on no account should I be allowed near the lake on my own, which is pretty damn unfair, if you ask me.’
‘You really shouldn’t swear,’ Kitty chided him gently. ‘There are so many better words to use.’
‘But Dad swears all the time,’ Jonas whined. ‘And he never tells me off.’
Kitty bit down a smile. ‘If you want to go sledging by the lake, you’ll need to stick with me,’ she said. ‘Otherwise we’ll have to stay near the house.’
Twenty minutes later, after a spell in the shower followed by a rub down with a warm, fluffy towel, Kitty walked down to the kitchen. Jonas had propped himself up on the counter and was chattering away to Annie as she laid out the breakfast dishes. The smell of warm oatmeal filled the room, making Kitty’s mouth water.
Her stomach gurgled loud enough for Jonas to stop talking,
‘Wow,’ he said, wide-eyed. ‘That was intense.’