Page 10 of Lodged

“River?” I say in a low voice, trying to see if he speaks again. But instead, the lights turn on, and after taking a couple of seconds to adjust, I take in the sight in front of me. It’s almost comical. My entire family is sitting on the big couch in the living room. Granny, Mom, Rain, and Merlin—my youngest brother—are on the couch. River and Miles, my oldest brothers, are each perched on an arm of the couch.

“Hey,” I say as I give them a little wave, suddenly feeling the blush rising up my neck to my face. I’ve never been the subject of attention in my family. I’ve always been “the good twin,” the one who obeys and doesn’t get in trouble. Meetings like this are usually for Miles and Rain. I’d add Merlin, but being the baby of the family— seven years younger than Rain and me—he gets away with a lot of things we older kids never did. For instance, his curfew is two hours later than ours ever was. He also doesn’t have many chores around the farm, maybe because by the timehe was old enough to help, we older kids already had a system in place.

“Hey? Is that the way you say hi to your family after having us worried sick about you the entire day?” River snaps me back from my memories with his stern big-brother tone.

“I’m sorry,” I say, lowering my gaze and pressing my nails against my palms as guilt for making them worry suddenly tightens my chest. I know they were all anxious, and after what happened to Daddy, I should have been more considerate.

“It’s okay, darling. Just tell us what happened,” Mama says in her sweet voice, and I instantly relax. Giving her a thankful smile, I take a deep breath and tell them everything that happened. From the moment my car started billowing smoke to when the firefighters arrived and a crowd gathered around me, I felt so overwhelmed I had to go to a quiet place.

“Fuck,” River mutters to himself, but everyone hears him. It’s eerily quiet in the house. “I’m sorry, Ruin. We should have gotten rid of that piece of garbage long ago,” he assures me as he ruffles his hair—a sure sign he’s restless.

“No, it’s okay. Look, I’m fine,” I tell him as I move closer to him. I hate that my brother feels responsible for every single thing that happens to any of us. “Nothing really bad happened.” He raises his gaze to me, and my lips turn up in a sweet smile. I notice the lines on his forehead disappear when he looks up at me and sees I don’t have any bruises. “We can see what I can afford with the little bit of savings I have left.” I shrug as I move toward Mama to give her a hug.

“Okay, we’ll go in the morning, then,” River says as he stands from the sofa arm and makes his way out to his cottage. Hmm, he didn’t say goodbye.Interesting.

“Okay, I’m going to hit the hay, too, now that we know Ru is safe and sound at home,” Merlin says as he gets up from the couch. He comes closer, and embraces me—it’s funny how thebaby of the family towers all of us. At six foot four, he’s the tallest MacAllister. As he heads off, Rain slides into his spot, and I take the seat between her and Mama.

“WahWee, is that the rental the insurance lent you?” Miles asks from the window, where he is looking outside like an old gossip lady. I take a deep breath because I know I cannot lie to my family— I need to tell them everything.

“Well, not exactly. Remember I said I had to go to a quiet place to calm myself? As I was sitting there, crying my eyes out, one of my professors happened to walk by. When he saw it was one of his students, he approached me, and I told him what had happened.” I pause and look around, trying to gauge their reactions. Miles stands with his arms crossed, a shit-eating grin on his face. Ugh, I know he’s going to give me hell for this.

“Hmm, what a nice guy. Are you sure he doesn’t want any special payment?” He raises his eyebrow, and Mama immediately admonishes him.

“Miles, stop stirring the pot. I’m sure Professor…” my mom trails off.

“Bianchi,” I fill her in.

“Bianchi has no malicious intentions with Ruin. Why can no one be an honest-to-God, upstanding citizen these days?” Mama asks, raising her voice the tiniest bit. She’s usually so calm and collected, so I’m surprised to see her like this.

“I’m sorry, Mama, I shouldn’t have presumed. It’s just if it were me, I wouldn’t have lent my Range Rover to a college student.”

“A what now?” Granny asks, and I chuckle at her. I thought she was asleep since she hasn’t said a word since I came in.

“Wow, sis. I didn’t realize teachers did so well at Wolfe University,” Rain says after squeezing my leg and going to stand next to Miles by the window. When she sees Gio’s car outside, she whistles.

“It’s an expensive car, I gather,” Mama says, and both Miles and Rain nod in unison. My hand goes to my face—Lord,please make it stop. I just want to go to bed and for this to be over once and for all.

“And you’re sure he’s a bonafide man?” Mama asks as she pats my hand.

I place my head on her shoulder in response. “Yes, Mama. He’s the best.”

“Well, he’s not only bonafide, he’s got a thing for Ruin.” My eyes grow as big as saucers at Granny’s words.

“I knew it. I knew something was fishy here. No one in their right mind would lend a quarter-million-dollar car to a student without strings attached,” Miles says, a wide grin on his face.

I roll my eyes at him as I stand up and go stand next to Rain. “You know nothing, Miles. I’m not even sure why Granny said that. All I know is that Professor Bianchi is a nice man. He never mentioned any type of payment or favor in return. He only said he wanted me to come see my family since he can’t visit his.”

“And why can't he visit them? Is there something wrong?” Rain asks what I’m sure everyone in this room is dying to know.

“Ah, he’s probably the black sheep of his family,” Miles chirps. I can’t take it anymore, I smack him on his chest.

“Oouch.” He winces, and it just makes me laugh. He loves being dramatic.

“No, goofball. He’s not a black sheep. Professor Bianchi is actually from Argentina, and his family lives in Chile. So as you can imagine, it’s not a trip he can make on a weekend,” I explain, and Mama instantly relaxes.

“I wouldn’t say that’s the only reason,” Granny says, mischief dancing in her eyes. We all turn to look at her, waiting for her to keep talking. She puts her hand in one of her dress pockets and starts looking for something. I already know where this is going, but I want to see what she says.

“Ah ha, here it is,” she says after struggling for a while to take it out. She raises her hand, holding a tarot card for all of us to see. Rain and I are trying to stifle a laugh, while Miles covers his mouth.

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