“Work. God. My big brother has a baby old enough to work. What do you do?”
“Oh.” Nora shrugged. “I’m an administrative coordinator. It’s a lot of paperwork, mostly. Pretty routine. Usually.”
“Sounds very grown-up. And what about him?” She bobbed her head at Charlie.
“Charlie? He…he floats around. Last I heard he was delivering for Domino’s. Or working for the pot dispensary by his place, maybe. I can’t remember which came first.”
“You two aren’t close then, I take it?”
Nora shook her head.
“Brothers are hard.” Patty gave a smile, half lost in the past. “I get it. But they can be pretty special, too. I wish I’d realized that when I still had both of mine, you know. But then, it’s always easier to appreciate someone when it’s too late to let them know.”
Nora looked over at her brother, snoring lightly on the couch.“Yeah, well, I hope I’ve still got a long time before I have to start appreciating him.” She shifted in her seat, then asked the question she’d wanted answered since she was a kid. “What was he like?”
“Marty?”
Nora nodded.
“He was different. Sweet to his bones. Water could’ve melted him for all the sugar he was made of. But god, he was stubborn. I think all us Birds are, in our way. And brave. He was the bravest of the lot of us, I’ll tell you that much. I’ve always said it.”
Nora picked at the file. She had only known her parents for such a short time, and Bubbie had only known her father for a little longer. She’d always wanted to believe she was like them, but given what Bubbie told her about her mother, vivacious and outgoing and carefree, Nora had hung all her hopes on her dad. But her dad had been brave. The bravest, even. And Nora, well, Nora would jump at her own shadow if she thought it could cause her harm.
“What made him brave?”
Patty leaned back into the love seat, drawing a long breath, eyes boring into Nora’s. “Well, he left. He’s the only one of us to ever move away from Virgo Bay. That’s not easy, leaving your home, your family. And this town, well, it’s a hard town to leave. But your father believed there was more to life than what this place has to offer. That there’s a better way to live. And you know what? Maybe he was right. I hope he found what he was looking for in the end.”
Nora tried for a smile. She hoped so too, but she doubted it. That end had come far too soon. Sure, he’d had Mom, who he’d loved in the way Nora always thought you were supposed to lovesomeone: fully and vulnerably and even when it would have been easier not to. And he’d had Nora and Charlie, who, aside from the sort of bickering you’d expect from young kids who shared a birthday and little else, were pretty passable children if Nora was honest. And he’d had a job he seemed happy enough to leave for in the morning, and even happier to come home from each night. But it was all cut so short that Nora couldn’t help but wonder if he’d even had time to look back on life and be happy with it. It had always made the pursuit of anything grander than adequate feel somewhat pointless to her. A life that was just fine seemed easier to sustain. Just fine didn’t require risks.
“Sweet to see such a strapping young man all curled up with a little animal like that,” Patty said, cutting through Nora’s thoughts. “Has he had that bird for long?”
“Oh, no,” said Nora, returning fully to the sunlit living room. “She just showed up a few days ago, apparently, and now they’re best friends. It’s all very Charlie.”
“Funny how life works out. Well, why don’t you try to get some rest? I’m sure your work can wait until you’ve napped a bit. I’ll call round and see who’s coming to lunch at Mom and Dad’s. There’s so many people who’ll want to meet you.”
“ ‘Mom and Dad’? You mean your parents are still around?”
“Sure, and fit as fiddles. They’ll be over the moon you’ve come.”
Another pang. Nora’s paternal grandparents were alive, despite her father’s insistence they’d died years ago. She could understand wanting a fresh start, but he’d deprived her and Charlie of so many people who could have loved them when the world only gave them pain.
The thought weighed heavy against her, coupled with themounting weight of an exhaustion she’d been staving off since the previous night. She looked over at Charlie, still sleeping soundly on the couch.
“Okay,” Nora said. She tucked Charlie’s file behind her back for safekeeping and curled deeper into the chair. “I’ll nap for a bit. But please…” Her eyes lingered on her brother. “Look after him.”
Patty stood and walked over to her niece, giving her knee a quick squeeze. If she said anything after that, Nora had no idea, because within seconds she was lost in sleep.
10
When Nora opened her eyes again, the sun had moved out of the living room window and was streaming in through the adjoining kitchen. She found Patty there, tossing a salad in a big wooden bowl on the counter, but when she looked over at the couch across from her, Charlie was gone.
She bolted upright, immediately wide-awake.
“Charlie?” she called, panic rippling through her.
“Oh, you’re up.” Patty turned from the counter and let the tongs she was holding drop into the salad bowl. She leaned back against the sink and gave Nora a smile. “He’s just popped out to the store for me. I’m all out of croutons, which is a cardinal sin in this town.”
“Out?” Nora was on her feet. Out was a dangerous place to be. Any number of things could happen to someone in the outside world. Any number of things could happen to Charlie. “How long has he been gone for? Which direction did he go?”
