Jonas shook his head. ‘I thought you might bring her back.’
Adam was confused. ‘Who?’
‘Kitty.’
His stomach did a flip-flop. ‘What do you mean, bring her back? She’s here, isn’t she?’
For some reason Adam’s hands started to shake. Of course she was inside, where else would she be? Even if he couldn’t face talking to her right then, part of him still wanted to know she was OK.
‘She’s not here,’ Jonas said quietly. ‘She left two days ago. Dad said she was going home.’
‘To LA?’
‘I guess. Drake drove her to the airport. They didn’t let me say goodbye.’
Adam stood up abruptly, his mouth suddenly dry.
‘Is your dad in the house?’
Jonas’s eyes went wide. ‘In the library, I think. Are you going to hit him again?’
Adam shook his head. ‘I shouldn’t have done that, and no, I’m not going to do it again. I just want to talk to him. To say sorry.’
He almost surprised himself. He was going to apologise? What else was going on in the bottom of his mind?
‘Will you ask him to bring Kitty back?’ Jonas suddenly looked hopeful.
‘I can’t do that.’ He hated disappointing his nephew. ‘But she’s going to be OK, and so are you.’
He ruffled his nephew’s hair and walked up the steps to the front door, pushing it open and walking inside. The house was silent, making the sound of his boots against the wooden floor seem louder than ever. He looked around the hallway, taking in the decorations hanging desolately from the staircase, the tree lights not even turned on. Shaking his head, he headed for the library, rapping lightly on the door to alert them to his presence. Drake opened it, his eyes wide as he took Adam in. ‘Oh, it’s you.’
‘Who is it?’ That was Everett, his voice as loud as ever.
‘Ah, it’s your brother,’ Drake said, looking behind him.
The next moment Everett was wrenching the door wide open. ‘You can leave us for a minute,’ he said to Drake. The assistant almost ran up the hall to the kitchen, as though afraid he was going to get caught up in the violence.
‘You want to come in?’ Everett asked.
‘Sure.’ Adam followed his brother into the library, closing the door behind him. In the corner, on the main table, he could see pages of a script. His stomach lurched at the sight.
‘Where’s Mia?’ he asked, as much to fill the silence as anything else.
‘She’s gone to DC again.’ Everett looked down at his hands. ‘We’ve been having a few problems. She has a therapist there.’ Finally he looked up again. ‘She wants us to get a divorce.’
It was like being slapped around the face with a plank. ‘The therapist?’ Adam asked.
‘No, Mia.’
‘Jesus, I’m sorry.’ He really was. In spite of everything he still loved his brother. Even if that emotion was buried very deep, beneath all the bullshit he’d caused.
‘Yeah, well, things haven’t been great for a while. I just worry about Jonas, you know?’
Adam nodded. ‘Yeah, that poor kid’s been through enough.’
‘We both knew this trip was going to be kill or cure. I guess I was hoping to give him a final Christmas with all his family. One he could remember for the rest of his life.’ Everett’s laugh was humourless. ‘We all managed to mess that one up, too.’
‘There are more Christmases,’ Adam said, not certain why he felt the need to reassure him. ‘And family is what you make it.’