“A few weeks. Feels longer. though. At least to me. She’s a special girl.”
“Your accent… is that Scottish? Fantastic golf courses there.”
“Right, but no. Irish. Ever been to my country?”
“I have. Ireland has scenery that’s the most beautiful in the world.”
The words from Jude’s journal come roaring back.You’re the most beautiful boy.If I wasn’t so furious, I might puke all over the floor.
Sawyer’s voice saves me. “Are sandwiches all right with you guys? Keep it simple? I thought I’d try to make a steak-and-mushroom pie later from Great Grandma Allendale’s old cookbook. Remember when Mom and I made it, Dad? It turned out so good.”
“So well,” Allendale corrects with a belated look at her.
Sawyer visibly deflates, and I have to redouble my efforts to keep from slamming a fist into his face.
“Yes.” Sauce struggles to inject some cheer into her flat voice. “That’s what I meant. It turned out so well. By the way—” She tugs up her sleeve and raises her forearm to show off a Briar Club bracelet.
“Oh, well done, Sawyer. Well done.” The approval sounds genuine enough. “Have you let my mother know, yet?”
“She knows I was accepted but hasn’t seen Mom’s bracelet on me yet. With Brad and everything, it hasn’t felt like the right time to send a picture.”
Allendale’s gaze returns to my face. “Yes, it’s been terrible. And you’ve been helping my daughter cope?”
The lack of emotion in his voice hardens my anger to stone. “As much as anyonecanhelp when a brother is lost.”
Allendale holds my eyes, and I identify him as a reptile. Losing his son didn’t destroy him. Far from it. He looks at me with a hopeful expression that seems to say he’s anxious to go back to Ireland to find another Jude. Or maybe I’m reading things into his every move that aren’t really there. It’s hard to tell. Everything is surreal at the moment.
“Jamie, come with me?” Sawyer’s hand reaches out toward me, the bracelet swaying on her wrist.
My hand takes hers and squeezes. “Sure.” My eyes return to Allendale. “Excuse us.”
If I hope to make it through the night without beating Allendale senseless, I need to hold onto Sawyer and what she means to me like a lifeline.
47
SAWYER
Initially, the vibe in the house is so tense I almost suggest we leave. I want to believe my dad seems strange because of Brad’s death, but it feels like something else. The creepy way his eyes follow Jamie makes me uneasy.
Over lunch, though, things settle. My dad focuses the conversation on Granthorpe, asking how Jamie and I met and then about the rowing team and its prospects. Jamie’s stiff at first and answers with one or two words rather than expounding. But over time—with my peppering him with additional questions—he eases into conversation. I learn all sorts of things I didn’t know. Like that before Jamie left Ireland for the United States, he’d been on track to row for Ireland in the Olympics.
“I’ve hope it’s still in my future, but time will tell,” he says. “The coach wasn’t best pleased when I left, and there’s a great group of lads in the boat now. Stellar performances back to back. No guarantee I’ll be on that level when I return. But in the GU Varsity boat this year, it’s a monster crew of lads. You say to yourself, ‘right, okay, maybe we’ve got a shot to place well in the standings.’”
“My son said the top Varsity 8 is as fast as the national champion boat from last year. And that the coach said it’s the most competitive team he’s ever seen at GU.”
“Maybe so. We’ve got some strong lads for sure, but so do they all. I can say the chemistry in that boat is class. It’s as much fun rowing as I’ve ever known. Every oar strikes as one, and the boat flies like we’ve got a sail up in perfect wind.”
“You sail, too?”
“If it’s to do with water, I’m in. Boating, swimming, surfing. My ma jokes that when I was a wee lad she checked behind my ears for gills. I took to the sea like I was born to it. I got my first wetsuit from Santa when I was seven, from sheer badgering.” He winks. “Not a lad to get carried away, I wrote him about ten letters… in case a couple went astray or the wee elves dropped one or two.”
I laugh, and he rolls his eyes at himself.
“Couldn’t leave anything to chance as Santa was my last hope that year. I’d not gotten a wet suit for my birthday as I’d asked. Looking back, I think my parents had the sense to know how reckless I might be once I got it. And the example I’d set for my five-year-old brother who was straight after me in anything I tried.”
Dad wipes his hands on a napkin. “The ocean’s too cold to swim without one at the moment. But the pool’s heated. You should take a swim after dinner. That’s my kids’ favorite pastime.”
“Is it?” Jamie’s hand strokes the back of my head as I nod. “Yeah, grand. Never tried swimming in hot water. Should be interesting.”
