Page 52 of Breathe
Chapter 19
Kane went up the driveway to the front porch, away from the boys, and lit a cigarette. How his family could make him love them so much, and yet piss him off so badly, always astonished him. Having a cigarette was one more small, admittedly stupid, fuck-you to his sister.
Cat always got mad when they talked about the business, or about their father. It was one of the reasons they didn’t bring Robert up much. When their parents had been alive, Robert had talked about the company all the time. “Ten generations,” he’d say. “We can’t let it fall on our watch. You see that, don’t you, son?” Kane, idealizing his loud, charismatic father as they all did and wanting nothing more than to follow in his footsteps, had fervently agreed.
Then Cat would say something like, “But don’t we need to focus more on our supply chain at the moment? And what about the recycling plant? Can’t we do more with that?” And if he even let her finish her sentences, Robert would pat her shoulder indulgently and say, “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. You’ve got your own career to think of.”
And the next day Cat would yell at Kane for hogging the TV too long, or not taking out the garbage, or taking their parents’ car when she wanted to use it, or any number of violations he couldn’t possibly anticipate.
Actually, she’d been right. Robert talked about the family legacy so often because he was in serious danger of failing it, as Kane discovered when he took over. And converting to recycling was the direction he’d chosen to take. But he and Cat had never discussed it.
He leaned on the railing and looked out at the deserted road in front of the house, at his old Audi that Ellen had driven here so expertly. The fact that she drove a stick was enough by itself to make him love her. She had no fear of Boston drivers—“Hello. I learned to drive in London”—no fear of his sister, no fear of living thousands of miles away from home. He didn’t know how she did it. No matter what his history with Cat was, if he couldn’t stand on this particular, slightly crooked porch, feel this splinter-laden railing under his hand, argue with her, fix stuff for Thea, and get teased by Megan on a regular basis, he’d feel like the ground was gone from beneath him.
But Ellen had fit right in. She’d taken Cat in stride, charmed Antonio within seconds, and had Megan treating her like just another sister. He’d taken a risk, bringing her here, because she was now part of this fabric. If she decided to leave the country, she’d leave a huge hole, and he didn’t know how he’d bring the pieces back together.
The front door opened. Thea, without the baby for once, hissed, “Quick, put it out, she’s woken up!” but Cat was already there, apparently completely sober after her nap, scowling so hard he was surprised she could still see. Kane turned around lazily to face her and, stretching his arm in a wide arc behind him so she couldn’t miss it, deliberately flicked the ash off his cigarette.
“You’re such a fucking child,” Cat spat out. “Go ahead and get lung cancer, the hell do I care?” and she pulled Thea in with her and made to slam the door. But Ellen had come up behind her and caught it. She slowly padded over to Kane—at some point she’d taken off her boots, and even her feet in thick woolen socks turned him on—and matter-of-factly took the cigarette from him.
Of course, in front of her the whole thing did seem childish. Cat tutted loudly, said, “Oh, sure,” and went inside. Ellen walked down the steps, stubbed the cigarette out on the grass, came back, and put her arms around Kane. He settled back against the railing and buried his face in her hair, his arms holding her fast. This’ll work out, he thought. This’ll just have to work out.
“I’ll apologize to Antonio,” he said against her hair.
“Sounds like a plan,” she said, holding him a little tighter.
After a while the music started playing “La Vie en Rose.” Kane swayed with her. Then he began singing along to the song. In French.
Ellen pulled away in surprise.
“Yeah, you see?” he teased. “You’re not the only one with the fancy pants languages.” He put her head back on his shoulder and gave her another verse. “Okay,” he admitted. “That’s all I got. I learned it to impress this exchange—”
“Surprise, surprise,” she interrupted.
“Uncle Kane!” came a yell from the side of the house. “B-ball! It’s getting dark! You promised!”
“Come on,” he said. “Go find your shoes. You’re playing this time.”
• • •
The boys looked doubtful when Ellen came out the back door, but they were soon wishing she was on their side. “Netball,” she explained, laughing, when she’d scored her fifth basket. Her only problem was her tendency to stand still, not dribble, which meant Kane could catch her too easily, and he would pick her up and squeeze her until she dropped the ball.
“I don’t think Kobe would like it if you did this to him!” she’d gasp, and he’d just grin and get a perfect lay-up.
The hoop had a new net, but the rest of it looked as old as the house. A window above it, on the second floor of the garage, was covered with plywood except for one pane, and that had a baseball-size hole in it. “Did you do that?” Ellen asked Kane, pointing up in an attempt to distract him.
“No!” yelled Matteo—she’d finally figured them out—“I did!” And he barreled into Kane to try and knock the ball out of his hands.
This sent Kane into a coughing fit that stopped the game. When Ellen put her hand to his forehead, he was burning up. She apologized to everyone around them, which would have made Kane smile if he hadn’t been trying to catch his breath, and said that she was going to have to take him home.
When they got inside to say goodbye, Cat also touched his forehead, and her lips tightened. “You stupid ass,” she said, and Kane said, through a shiver, “I love you, too. Be nice to T and Megan.”
• • •
The dilemma of what to do over the holiday weekend was solved for her: Ellen spent it taking care of Kane, who ran a fever for two days and couldn’t get out of bed.
She made a trip to her apartment to pick up some things early on Friday and was photographed driving away from his building. For a little while she’d thought the press had nothing on Cat for unsettling her, but the picture coming up on the internet, with the usual lewd suggestions underneath, still made her insides clench. She didn’t tell Kane.
• • •
