Fractured Things - Samantha Lovelock Page 0,51
her eyes are a little glassy, she gives me a smile and gestures to the small gravestone beside her.
“Stella, meet my brother. Charlie, this is my best friend.” My mouth drops open in surprise, and she giggles.
“I think I just shocked Stell into silence, Charlie.” Standing up, she brushes the back of her jeans off and loops her arm through mine, quickly kissing the tips of the fingers on her free hand and pressing them to the top of the plain, almost white, headstone. “See you later, big brother.”
“Uh, so, brother?” I stumble over my words, unsure of whether I’m being rude or not.
“Yep. Charlie would have been the Easton Heir had he not gone drinking with his friends that night and decided to get behind the wheel after a few too many. He was seventeen and alone in the car when he broke our mother’s heart. That was four years ago.” She presses her lips firmly together. “Her perfect golden boy wasn’t so perfect after all, and she punished him for that by burying him outside of the family crypt.” We’ve caught up to Cecily by now, and I can see the disapproval on her face when Sunday mentions why her brother isn’t buried with the rest of the Easton family. I tighten my arm through Sun’s and pull her closer to me.
“I’m sorry about Charlie.”
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
The three of us walk in silence back toward the cars, and I notice the crypt nearest the entrance. Not only does this one have the same beautifully carved door as the rest, but it also has an imposing stone raven guarding the roofline.
Halliday.
I know it’s theirs before I see the name carved above the door, and I can feel my anger at Poe rippling below the surface of my calm. Not wanting to fall into that particular pit right now, I focus on the next task for the day.
“Sun, are you still okay to take me to the hospital?” I ask, but before she can answer, my aunt spins on her heel to face us.
“Hospital? Why are you going to the hospital?” Her voice flutters with worry.
“Nothing serious,” I assure her. “Mr. Halliday arranged for me to meet with a nurse to have my blood drawn for a paternity test, is all.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
Sunday squeezes my arm and answers for me.
“Nah, it’s alright, Miss B. I’ve got this one.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. Why don’t you both come back to the house afterward, and I’ll make us some lunch?” We nod happily. When Cecily feeds us, it’s always tasty. Giving me a kiss on the cheek, she climbs into the back of the Caddy, and she and Spry pull out of the cemetery parking lot.
Once we get to the hospital, Sunday and I manage to follow Holt’s directions without incident. The nurse is friendly, and I barely feel the pinch of the needle. As we’re heading back out to the Rover, my phone dings with a text, and when I pluck it out of my purse, I see it’s another one from Poe. Again deleting it without reading it, I shake my head when it rings a few seconds later and see the call is also from him. Before I can blink, Sunday grabs the phone from my hand and answers it.
“Halliday, it’s Sunday. You need to fuck off now, ‘kay? I love you like a brother, but you messed this up bad, and you just need to back off. She’ll talk when she’s ready.” And with that, she disconnects the call and turns my phone off before slipping it back into my purse.
“You’re seriously the best, you know that, right?” I tell her gratefully, giving her a slightly brittle smile while choking down the rage and sorrow that are both so close to exploding every time I think about Poe Halliday.
Lunch back at Tweedvale is a welcome distraction. Cecily and Sunday keep up a near-constant stream of chatter about ordinary, everyday life while we eat the thick-sliced turkey sandwiches and chef’s salad Cecily made for us. Makeup trends, celebrity sex scandals, and my aunt’s strange fascination with the latest foot peel craze all make it easy for me to decompress, even if it is just for a little while. The entire time we’ve been eating and talking though, I’ve noticed Sunday’s phone pinging with text after text. She’s been politely feigning ignorance, but her eye has started twitching with each new notification.
“Dude, answer it