Page 71 of Tulips and Lost Time

“Pretty sure we call that open season,” Kane sniggers. “She was a giant, red bullseye, and you, Luca, were done being the martyr. Game on.”

20

LUC

A LITTLE HOPE

“Luc?” Marc wanders onto the dock down at the hospital one day, deep in the later parts of the summer. September evenings are finally, desperately clawing toward dusk before nine p.m. But even with the hottest part of the season behind us, sweat still dribbles along my spine as I count stock in the back of my bus after pulling a kid out of the lake.

She was seven and had no business swimming on her own.

Luckily, she lived, and if Alex gets his way, he’s about to put a scare on her parents they won’t ever forget.

“Luc?”

“I’m in the bus.” I bring my arm up and swipe at the sweat beading on my brow. It pebbles along my skin, dripping from the tip of my nose when I don’t catch it in time. The heat is frying my brain anyway, so I set my clipboard down and swap my pen for a bottle of water as Marc comes to a stop at the back doors and grins uncharacteristically wide.

His giddiness sets me on alert. “What?”

“The girls asked for help.”

Maybe the temperature has already boiled my brain because my thoughts swing around, Tweety Bird on a swing, singing a song and not doing much else. “You’re happy because the girls need help?”

“They need help moving.” His eyes grow impossibly wide. Very non-Marc-like as they dance. “They’re coming home! Kari is coming home.”

“No shit.” Be cool. BE COOL! “When?”

“This weekend. They asked me to drive the truck over Saturday morning and load their shit up. Ang said he can’t help because he’s got some big job coming in he has to do. But he offered his car, so you need to drive that over and haul some shit back.”

“So you’re just planning my weekend, huh?” Bulllllllshit. I’m coming with bells on. “What if I’m busy?”

“Cancel.” He practically fucking tap dances on the smooth concrete. “Kari said she’s finishing up her contract with the clinic and her boss is writing a glowing recommendation for her. The administrators here are already making offers since she’s so fuckin’ smart.”

“Is that, like… a formal recognition?” I tease. “Fuckin’ smart. Or are you being a weird big brother, gloating about his little pet?”

“I don’t give a shit. She’s coming home!” If he was a woman, and, or, holding a bouquet of flowers, I get the feeling he’d hug them to his chest and twirl in circles.

There are so few things on this planet that make Marcus Macchio happy.

The first, last, and every one in between, revolves around his baby sister.

“You’ll be here too,” he sighs. “You’re at the hospital damn near twenty-four seven. So I know, as my friend, you’ll keep an eye on her. And even though she’s getting an apartment in town, I’ll have her at my place as much as I can get away with. The twins are officially unofficially moving in, too, which means you’ll have a green light to visit as much as you want. So basically?—”

“So basically, you’re setting up your network of spies.” I nod, faux impressed with his deviousness. “You know she’ll skin you, right?”

He laughs, completely unphased by a very real threat. “She loves me. Even if I frustrate her sometimes. And the times that she’s angry at me, just means when she forgives, she spends even more time with me to make up for what we lost.”

“Pretty sure you’re still grossly codependent, bruh.” I open my bottle of water and tip it back to fill my mouth. I don’t mind the extra that dribbles onto my cheeks. I don’t care about the droplets on my chin. My skin is sizzling hot, and the water is blissfully cold.

Hell, I get why a curious seven-year-old thought going for a swim today was a good idea.

“What about her boyfriend?” Be cool. Casual. Non-obsessive. “You know about them, right?”

He knows. I know he knows. But I want to gauge how he feels about it now that Kari is twenty-four years old and all grown up.

“They’ve been together a while, huh? Is that, like… weird for you?”

He shrugs. “Guy seems nice. And she hasn’t complained about him once since they met.”

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