Deep Wate - Sarah Epstein Page 0,25

… I think we have to tell everyone,’ I say, feeling dazed.

I had no idea Henry was on Facebook. He’s never sent me a friend request. Maybe somebody told him about the page and it prompted him to get in touch.

Who is he with? Where are they staying?

Sabeen flips the card over and back again, examining the message for a long time.

‘Do you think Ivy and Mason received one as well?’ I ask.

‘Chloe,’ Sabeen says.

‘We’ll need to update the Facebook page—’

‘Chloe,’ Sabeen repeats, more firmly. ‘I don’t think this is what you think it is.’

That niggle returns and my heart thumps faster. I sense Rina approaching from the corner of my eye. Sabeen quickly slaps the postcard down on the table and flashes me a warning with her eyes: Don’t say anything.

‘Finished with these?’ Rina asks, reaching for our cups. Her gaze goes straight to Sabeen’s hands, the way her fingers are unnaturally fanned out across the table. The beach side of the postcard is facing up, slivers of sand and sky peeking through the gaps. Between Sabeen’s middle and ring fingers, two gold-stamped words are perfectly legible.

from Manly

Rina hesitates. Sabeen presses her lips together and bugs her eyes at me again, and I respond with a frown. Rina glances from one of us to the other, and I realise she’s expecting an answer.

‘Oh,’ I say. ‘Yes. We’re finished with them. Thanks.’

Sabeen slides the postcard off the table and into her lap in one swift movement. If it wasn’t obvious we were hiding something from Rina before, there’s certainly no doubting it now.

‘Don’t stop talking on my account,’ Rina mutters, stacking the cups. Does she think we’re talking about her? ‘I’ll get out of your way.’

‘Thanks, Rina,’ I say brightly. It comes off sounding passive aggressive.

She gives me a chilly smile. ‘Pay at the front when you’re ready.’

I wait until she’s all the way in the kitchen before I groan. ‘Well, that was awkward.’

Sabeen covertly slips the postcard back into the middle of the mail pile, gathers up all the letters and hands them to me. ‘Don’t show this to anyone yet.’

‘Why not?’

Sabeen stands abruptly, her chair scraping across the floorboards. She joins me at my side of the table, encouraging me to stand.

‘It might get everyone’s hopes up,’ she says in a low voice. I glance down at the pile of letters in my hand and feel that nervous flutter again. ‘Can you come to my house later? I’ll text you after I finish at Bernie’s.’

‘Okay.’ I swallow. ‘What’s this about?’

‘I need to show you something.’

Sabeen holds eye contact and something in my mind finally clicks into place. I realise I already know what she’s about to say.

‘The postcard says it’s from Henry,’ she tells me, ‘but that’s not Henry’s handwriting.’

Ten weeks before the storm

31 OCTOBER 2018, 12:49

Missy: Happy Halloween, if you’re into that kind of thing.

1 NOVEMBER 2018, 13:07

Missy: Guess not.

3 NOVEMBER 2018, 17:05

Henry: Hi! Sorry! I can’t check messages every day. I use the computer at the library.

Missy: No worries.

Henry: Whoa! Fast reply.

Missy: My phone pings whenever you reply in our message thread.

Henry: Oh right. Nice.

Missy: Did you think I was stalking you from across the library?

Henry: ()

Missy: You just looked over your shoulder, didn’t you? :P

Henry: Nah … haha. How was Halloween?

Missy: Pretty quiet. It’s not much of a thing around here.

Henry: Same.

Missy: Took my little sister trick-or-treating along our street.

Henry: Did you all dress up?

Missy: She was a ballerina.

Henry: With a tutu and stuff?

Missy: Yeah, the whole pink tizzy thing. Hanging out with siblings is just sooo much fun.

Henry: I wouldn’t know.

Missy: That’s right. I forgot you don’t get along with your brother.

Henry: He’s my half-brother. We have different dads. Mine lives in Sydney.

Missy: Whereabouts?

Henry: Northern Beaches, I think.

Missy: You don’t know?

Henry: My mum doesn’t want us talking to him.

Missy: Why not?

Henry: He has a new family now. A new wife and two little kids. Mum says he wants the shiny new family, not the crappy old one.

Missy: That’s really harsh. How long ago did he leave?

Henry: When I was about four.

Missy: Does he call at least?

Henry: We don’t have a home phone.

Missy: So you don’t hear from him?

Henry: He’s sent me a few birthday cards. Last one had twenty bucks inside.

Missy: That’s something.

Henry: I bought a hat from the service station. I tell everyone my dad gave it to me because he sorta did.

Missy: Have you ever written back?

Henry: Don’t have his address.

Missy: Isn’t there one on the back of the birthday cards?

Henry: It’s