Page 66 of How to Hide in Plain Sight
“What about you?” I asked, suddenly desperate to turn the conversation away from myself. “How’s Addie?”
“Oh.” Caleb’s smile disappeared. “You…don’t know?”
My heart picked up speed.Is this it? The thing that Karma and Mom were whispering about in the pantry? Did something happen to Addie? Are they divorced? Separated? No, that can’t be right. His ring is still on his left hand.
“Don’t know what?” I asked, pulse racing.
“Addie is…” He looked down, Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “She’s sick.”
The words landed at the bottom of my stomach like a crate full of bricks.
Addie.
Sick.
What?
It wasn’t possible. Not her. Not the beautiful, brilliant, fun-loving woman I’d always looked up to.Addie?
“Well”—Caleb laughed hollowly—“if the look on your face is any indication, youdidn’tknow.” He shook his head. “No one told you? Really? Not even Karma?”
“I…”
What was I supposed to say?No, sorry. I feel awful that you had to be the one to tell me when it’s clearly so painful for you, but actually, neither Karma nor my mother thought I was strong enough to handle the news of your wife’s illness. They thought my fragile, mentally ill mind might fall to pieces and ruin Taz’s wedding.
“No,” I said finally, “they didn’t tell me.”
Caleb nodded, looking back out at the lake. “Well. She is. Breast cancer. We caught it early, but…” He shook his head. “I wanted to stay home with her this weekend. I tried to stay, hadn’t even packed my bags two hours before the flight took off, but she put her foot down. ‘Stop acting like I’m bedridden,’ she said. ‘I’m perfectly fine. This is your brother’s wedding we’re talking about. These days with your family are precious, and I can take care of myself. You’re getting on that plane. End of story.’ ” He laughed, the sound heavy but genuine. “So, here I am. Worried sick but doing exactly what she wanted me to do.”
As a copywriter, I think of myself as having words for any situation. Marketing campaign? No problem. Instruction manual? You got it. Apology email because our holiday gift boxes went out without any gifts inside them? I’m your girl. I can always find the right words, the right tone, the right cadence to suit Blossom’s needs.
But when your older brother tells you his wife has breast cancer?
Well, on that, I drew a blank.
“It’s okay to be speechless,” he said, glancing sympathetically at me. “When we got the news, I was, too.”
I’d never seen my oldest brother look like this before. Bruised. Breakable. And, for the first time in my life, I realized that hewasboth of those things. That he wasn’t just Caleb Beck, Acting Patriarch of the Beck Family. He was also Caleb, a person with flaws and troubles that he hid well from the world around him.
Just like me.
For a moment, I thought about opening up to him. I thought about telling the truth, therealtruth, about my life in New York.
But before I could even open my mouth, Manuel returned, claiming his seat. And Caleb was gone as quickly as he’d arrived.
—
TEN MINUTES LATER, MY FISHINGrod leapt from my hands with such force I almost dropped it into the water. “Shit!” I grabbed for the handle, leaping up out of my folding chair.
“She’s got something!” called Helene.
Manuel appeared beside me. I looked at him helplessly. He nodded once, then took the rod. “I’ll get you started, but this guy is yours.”
All pretense of competition quickly dissolved when it became clear that our team had something big on the line. My family gathered around and started yelling cheerful obscenities at the fish:
“Let’s go, big guy!”
“Get your ass up here!”
