“His mom says hi,” Chris says. He tilts his head. “She told me to tell you thank you, said you’d know why. Keegan overheard and made jokes all the way home that you probably tapped her. But I’m guessing you talked your dad into helping with some of Brogan’s medical expenses after all. That was cool, man.”
“It’s just money. It’s no big deal.”
Chris grunts. “Yeah, maybe, but we all know how your dad is. I’m sure it wasn’t easy talking him into that. What’s he getting out of it?”
Shrugging, I adjust the flames on the grill. My dad’s such a penny pincher, he wouldn’t help another family with their medical bills even if he’d get the Nobel Peace Prize for it. All I did was convince my father to let me tap into my inheritance. The Barretts assumed I got the money from Dad, and I let them. My father thinks I sold him my soul to get that money early, but the joke’s on him. It’s not mine to sell.
“There’s Mia,” Chris says, and I snap my head up, thinking she’s joined us on the patio. Instead, he looks toward the kitchen windows where Mia’s standing with her head bowed, probably doing dishes. “I’m worried about her.”
“Me too.” I’ve been home almost a month, and she walks around like a robot. Katie’s the only one who gets her rare smiles, and as far as I can tell she only leaves the house to see Brogan and check on her dad. She’s not living. She’s surviving.
“Bailey said she never goes out anymore, and she’s not herself. I’m sure all this hasn’t been easy on her, but since you two both live here, she thought you might know more.” He studies me, and the questions in his eyes are more complicated than the ones coming out of his mouth. “You think she’s okay?”
“I don’t know,” I say, but the truth is, I don’t think she’s okay at all. And it’s eating at me every day.
“I wish she’d join us. Want me to go talk to her?”
I hand him the platter for the burgers and shake my head. “No. I’ve got this. You feed the savages; I’ll talk to Mia.”
“Good.”
The inside of the house is like a different world. Cold to the hot, quiet to the loud. With the boys here, everything turns chaotic and messy out back, but in here everything is white and sterile. The inside of a tomb.
Mia’s sitting at the kitchen table with a book, the wine glasses she just washed air-drying in the dish drain. She’s in a short pink sundress that hides her curves but shows all that caramel skin of her long legs, and her bare feet are propped up on the chair beside her.
“Hey,” I say softly, but she still jumps and looks up at me with wide eyes.
She puts her book down. “Do you guys need something? I didn’t want to be in the way.”
“We need you to come outside.”
“To cook the food or—”
“To be with your friends.”
“No thanks,” she says, picking her book back up.
“Mia, Katie’s not even here right now. You can take an hour off to talk to other people your age.”
“No,” she says without looking up.
I tear the book from her hands and want to rip it in half when I realize what it is. I Can Hear You: One Man Wakes From PVS and Shocks the World. “What is this shit?”
“It’s called a book.” She avoids my gaze and reaches to retrieve it.
I hold it out of her reach and skim the description on the back cover before turning back to her. “Is this what you’re waiting for? You’re just going to put your life on hold and wait in case he snaps out of it one day? Haven’t they told you how it works?” I shake the book. “This isn’t what happens. This was a fluke. Brogan isn’t coming back.”
She keeps her gaze cast on the floor, and even though I know I’m right, I wish she’d argue with me, scream at me for giving up on him, or yell at me for not believing in miracles. Something. Anything to prove to me that she isn’t phoning in her life.
“You want this book back?” I ask, tucking it into the back of my pants.
“Yes, please.”
“It’s yours. All you have to do is stop ignoring the rest of the world and come outside.”
She springs from the chair, eyes wide, hands on hips.