Why?”
“Greta and I brought them along because we loved hanging out with them. And they loved coming along.” Marty stood up and paced the floor. “Look, I’ve never mentioned this because I don’t like putting you down, but somebody had to spend time with them and take them places. You didn’t. You were always in a work mode.”
“Working to pay off some of their hospital debts.” Everett sat back down. “Somebody had to have a job. You and Greta were too busy living the artist’s life to work a real job.”
Everett glanced at her with regret in his eyes, but she still wanted to disappear. His last comment felt personal. Kind of stung her heart like a wasp with a double load of poison. Lark reminded herself that both brothers were wrestling with the past, finally bringing up long-suppressed emotions that needed to be addressed. She’d just gotten caught in a little crossfire, but she hoped it wouldn’t injure their growing relationship. She placed her hand on Everett’s shoulder, but he edged away. Oh, God, please show me what to do. Maybe it really was time to leave.
Everett traced his finger across his brow, looking drained.
“Please. I need to hear you say it,” Marty said. “We can smooth so much rough road between us if you can just forgive me.”
Everett looked at Marty and sighed. “If I say it, I want to mean it. And I’m just not ready. I’m sorry.”
Lark bit her lip. What an awkward silence. Heart wrenching, in fact. When her parents had died in the crash, all the blame had gone to the drunk driver. Perhaps that fact had made the grief easier. Then she realized both Everett and Marty hadn’t known such a strange comfort. They’d become paralyzed from a lack of closure. Each had reacted to the tragedy in a different, yet parallel way. Both had tried to escape into a hermit’s life—one at home within the refuge of his computer and the other as a loner who couldn’t attach himself to any one place.
Marty grabbed his coat off the back of the chair. “Listen. I’ve got some stuff to do. I won’t be spending the night. I’ll drop by tomorrow morning to say good-bye. Then I’ll be off to Missouri.” He looked at Lark. “Sorry about all this. Pretty heavy stuff. But I was glad to meet you, Lark.” He reached over to shake her hand. “And I hope you won’t hold this against us. Everett is a good guy. We just have some issues to work out.”
Lark shook his hand. “It’s okay. And I was glad to meet you, too, Marty. I hope someday we can play some music together.”
“Me, too. Thanks.” He shot Everett and Lark the peace sign. “See ya.”
Everett started to rise, but Marty held up his hand. “I’ll let myself out.”
“Do you want to take the quiche with you?” Lark asked.
“No.” Marty shook his head. “Thanks. Lost my appetite.”
Lark felt a bout of righteous indignation coming on. Or maybe just pure fear that Everett was entering dangerous ground. That he was closing off all those he loved just as her professor had years before. She gave Everett a look of disapproval with an imploring kind of smile attached as if to say, “Stop your brother and forgive him.”
Everett seemed to ignore her pleading gaze, took out his wallet, and handed his brother a one-hundred dollar bill.
Marty just set the money back down on the table. “I didn’t come for that, Ev.”
“I know.” Everett put the bill back in his wallet. “You don’t really have to go.”
“I don’t think you understand.” With those last words, Marty ambled to the door and left into the cold night.
If Lark thought the silence felt disheartening before, once Marty shut the door, a cheerless kind of gloom settled in around them in spite of the love she tried to offer him. There was that word again, but she couldn’t turn back. Even if Everett shunned her now, she knew where she stood. Love could be a one-sided choice if it had to be, because no one could stop a person from feeling it. But caring for Everett made it even harder to watch him self-destruct from a lack of forgiveness. He’d been so hurtful to his brother and so irrational, she wanted to shake him. What could she say?
“I’m sorry you had to witness our dirty laundry,” Everett said. “You can understand now why I didn’t want to talk about it the other