Page 57 of Beyond Oblivion

“Well,” I began, trying to ignore the fact that I’d just heard her swear for the first time—and that Trenton had just threatened the brother of one of Olive’s friends. “You’re right that Trent isn’t the father. I’m not even sure that she’s really pregnant. And I guess on paper, the rest of it is all true. But it’s more complicated than that.”

“Did he quit hanging out with her because she’s nuts, or is she nuts because they stopped hanging out? Because if Trent decided one day he hated me…”

“Olive, I want you to hear me when I say this: his friendship with Maddie is very different. You’re family. It’s true that Trenton was in an accident with Madison’s older sister, Mackenzie, a long time ago, when he was in college, and she was killed.” I sighed.How in thefuckdo I explain this?“But he hadn’t seen Madison in years. They’re not close like you and Trent.”

“So, they just started talking again?”

“Yes.”

“What did she do to make him stop?”

“She’s confused. She thinks she’s in love with Trent, that he’s in love with her, and that they’re meant to be together. She thinks the bond they share from losing the same person is more than what it is. Eventually, that confusion led her to make a lot of bad choices. She’s been trying to cause problems in our marriage with rumors and lies and,” I paused, “some other things. She’s crossed lines that forced Trent to stop being her friend. Some of the things she’s done are so serious that her parents sent her away to a psychiatric hospital to help her see things more clearly.”

Olive nodded, relieved. “Holy crap, she really is delusional. I mean… that’s actually insane. But she’ll get out at some point, right? Is she going to leave you alone?”

“What I know, without a doubt, is that we can trust that Trent would never let anything happen to me. Or to you.”

“The fact that her parents had to send her away because she wouldn’t stop. Cami,” she spoke her next words quietly, “are you scared?”

“Nope,” I replied with a soft but confident tone. “I don’t have to be. I have Trent. And Papa Jim. And Travis.”

“And me,” Olive said, taking my hand in hers. “You have me, too.”

“I do,” I said. “Family is the best protection you can get.”

We sat comforted by the quiet, feeling free of the burden of everything that had been left unsaid for too long. Olive leaned against me, and I felt an intense need to make sure from that moment on, none of the messy situations we found ourselves in ever touched her.

Olive settled back into her carpeted seat on the other side of the coffee table, already refocused on her notebook. She loved us as fiercely as we loved her. Between Madison and the danger Thomas, Liis, Abby, and Travis were tangled up with, the only control we had was to stay vigilant, and to love and protect one another. As much as I wanted to protect Olive from it all, she was affected, too. We could no longer assume she was oblivious to the very real threats which could at any moment be hovering just beyond the walls of our homes. Too much risk came with only knowing half-truths, and even though I had to keep the FBI part close to my chest, I had to figure out how to tell Jim, Trent, and Olive just enough so they could safeguard themselves and each other.

The toilet flushed in the bathroom down the hall, the sink turned on, and then the door opened. Jim appeared in the hallway, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He nodded once to me and then turned for the kitchen, favoring his left hip. Stopping at the sink, he reached for his coffee cup and then turned to hold it under the running faucet.

I stood and joined him, touching his shoulder. “I can make you a cup of coffee, Dad. Are you ready for lunch?”

“Not just yet,” he said, glancing behind him. He spoke his next words softly. “At the risk of implicating myself when you’d just told Olive not to eavesdrop… you and I are going to have a conversation after she heads home.”

I swallowed. “Um, yeah. We can definitely do that.”

As soon as Jim turned away, my stomach tightened, twisting itself into a knot I hadn’t felt in years. Jim was nothing like my father—he never had been, never could be—but the feeling of beingin troublewith him was enough to throw me into a mild panic. I was eight again, standing in the shadow of a man whose disappointment was a fuse waiting to be lit. Jim would never spiral into a rage the way my father had done so many times, but the phantom fear lingered, tugging at the part of me that thought I’d left this feeling behind. I wasn’t a child anymore, but right then, I might as well have been—a little girl bracing for an explosion that would never come.

He nodded once and set his mug to dry in the dish rack, leaving me in the kitchen alone to sit in his recliner.

I wasn’t sure what part of the conversation we needed to have a come-to-Jesus about, but regardless, his tone made me nervous to have it.

Just as I returned to the living room, the sound of the lawnmower abruptly cut off, and I side-stepped to look out the window, seeing Trenton greet Travis and Abby. Travis’s laugh was muffled but still audible within the house, gently swinging white plastic bags adorned with bold red Chinese characters. Abby stood with a soft smile, holding one small hand of each twin, shaking her head over something Trenton had said.

Travis tipped his chin in a quick nod to Trenton before heading toward the porch, his family trailing just behind him. Moments later, the door creaked open, the lively chatter from outside spilling into the house.

“Don’t start lunch, Cami! We brought about six pounds of rice!” Travis yelled, waiting until his family cleared the door before closing it with his foot.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in!” Jim said, slowly standing.

A savory medley of smells instantly filled the house, prompting Olive to stand and head to the kitchen.

“Did you break your hip old man?” Travis said, placing the bags on the wooden dining table.

“Agh,” Jim said, waving Travis’s thinly veiled concern away. “Arthritis is acting up again.”

Abby glanced down at Jim’s hip while she unloaded the sacks. “Have you seen Dr. Adams?”

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