Page 101 of Quiet Beautiful Things

When I stand, Maisy looks up in confusion. Oh, boy. How do I explain this? Instead of trying, I just sign, “Let’s go. We’ll eat and dance.”

At the word dance, I see excitement in her eyes. I know the first thing she’ll do is find a speaker, wrap her body around it as tightly as she can, and then release it, staying close to feel the music as she dances like only a four-year-old can.

Once through the doors, waiters stand at the ready, handing out champagne. I reluctantly accept a glass. It’s hardly a celebration. Allie scoops up two and sidles up next to me. Then she realizes she can’t sign with her hands full and deposits them on the nearest table. “Might as well make the most of the night. There’s all this great food and wine.” She signs as much as she can, and I lip read the rest. “Besides, this wasn’t entirely unexpected.”

“I’m sorry,” I sign. “I know you were hoping Lissa would be the one.”

Blake walks up next to me, a sad smile on his face. Dallas accompanies him.

I catch bits and pieces of the conversation between the three siblings. It doesn’t escape me how Blake keeps encouraging them to face me while speaking so I can feel more included.

“Where is he?” Allie asks.

Dallas shrugs then shouts angrily at Blake. They have a disagreement and Blake says something about it not being his fault.

“Can you stay with Maisy?” Blake asks, begging me with his eyes. “I want to see if I can find Lucas.”

“Yes. Of course. You should be with your family.”

“Thank you,” he signs, then downs a shot being handed to him right before he and Dallas take off through the front door.

Chapter Thirty-six

Blake

“That motherfucker,” I say for the tenth time since we hopped in Dallas’s Ford F-150 Raptor.

“Don’t say I didn’t tell you,” he grumbles.

I stare daggers into the side of his head. “Do you have no compassion? He just ruined Lissa’s life. Maybe his own. She was the best thing that ever happened to him. I get that you’ve been gone for the past few years and haven’t seen them together, but they’re fucking perfect. If he can’t marryherthere’s zero hope for him.”

Stopped at an intersection, he turns toward me, eyes narrowed. “Are we talking about Lucas?”

“Of course we’re talking about Lucas,” I huff.

“Because I saw the way you were looking at Ellie.”

“This isn’t about me.”

“Uh huh. Blake, listen, I have to say I was thrown by your phone call that day. Not just because you’re a dad, but the way you talked about Ellie. And now, six weeks later, you still have a boner for her—that’s just not like you. And now it’s like you’re taking it personally that Lucas ditched.”

“Whatever,” I say as we pull up to Lucas’s building.

We ride up to the fifth floor where there are two penthouse apartments. Lucas’s is on the right. His spare key is still hidden under the ornate flower vase on the table between the two apartments where he stashed it back when I was in college so I could use his place for a sex den.

I shake my head at the thought. It seems like forever ago when I brought a girl here. But it’s not. Last fall I brought…ah, shit,I can’t even remember her name.

I don’t even knock. If he’s here, he’s probably balls-deep in a bottle of whiskey. I whip open the door, not even thinking that maybe Lissa could be here instead. After all, she’s lived here for over a year now.

“Lucas!” I shout, entering the place.

“Yo, Luke!” Dallas adds with much less gusto.

“Lissa? Are you here?” I ask.

We look through all five bedrooms. No one is here. The only trace of Lucas having been here is his discarded clothes he was wearing at the groom’s brunch at Mom and Dad’s house earlier.

“He hasn’t been here,” I say.

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