Page 18 of Whatever Will Be

“It means the lady with the orange nails is a fucking bitch,” Danny grumbles.

Mara nods. “Oh.”

My brother receives a roll of my eyes, which he ignores.

Jules made sure the house was placed in a family trust and I am the executor. There is no mortgage, only the property taxes and the upkeep. We can stay right here in Lake Stuart forever. With the harsh winters and the teeming crowds of summer people and the corpse of Rosebriar staring down from the hills.

Forever.

There’s inexplicable heat on the back of my neck. When I turn around, I find Trent staring at me. He stands less than ten feet away at the edge of the hallway and his dark eyes refuse to waver. I end up looking away first.

Caitlin yawns next. Mara rests her head on my shoulder. They are so small, just babies. Their mother was their world.

“Why don’t we go upstairs?” I suggest. “You can both take a bubble bath and bring any toy you want in the tub.” I try to use a bright, upbeat tone when I talk to them, the way Jules would. I’m a terrible actress.

Caitlin looks like she might argue but then she nods. She links hands with her sister and I steer them toward the stairs.

“I’ll be right up,” I promise and breathe through the threat of tears.

Trent’s voice comes from behind me. “Hey girls, thanks for teaching me all about Frozen.”

The two of them pause on the first step and look back.

They reward him with identical smiles.

“Bye, Trentcassini.” Mara waves with her free hand.

“You need to come over again,” Caitlin demands and seems to consider the matter settled.

“I’ll do that,” says Trent.

Danny waits until they are out of earshot before speaking up. “Gretch, you need me for anything else right now?”

“Do you have a date or something?” I ask, with more attitude than I intend.

He huffs with annoyance. “No. I’m just no good at helping with bath time or bed time or whatever. If you don’t need me to do anything I thought I’d go back to the carriage house and catch up with Trent.”

There’s an extra bedroom right here in the main house but since his arrival Danny has preferred to stay out back. I wonder if he’s planning to remain out there permanently.

Or if he’s really planning to stay at all.

“No, I don’t need you, Danny.”

He doesn’t catch the icy shade to my words and gestures to Trent. “How about it?”

“Sure,” Trent answers but I could swear a shadow of disapproval crosses his face.

Daniel still lives like he’s on perpetual spring break. The only thing he cares about is training to get back into the majors. Otherwise, his world is one of clubs and parties and women and he has never shown the slightest interest in being taken seriously.

Jules understood our brother as well as I did, maybe better. She had to know Danny isn’t cut out to be anyone’s father figure but she gave him equal responsibility for the girls.

I don’t quite understand why.

He and Trent are already heading outside through the kitchen door. Danny is saying something about the good old days of varsity baseball at Lake Stuart High.

With a sigh, I slip my heels off before climbing the stairs. I don’t want to keep the girls waiting.

They are both listless and sleepy during their bath. A social worker called yesterday and offered to forward some information for family grief counseling. I will need to look into that.

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