One step after another. I clutched the corner of the house.
“No. Not like that. Wanted to many times though.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I had my younger siblings to think about.” He sighed a little. “I’m six years older. When things went to shit at home, they were ten. We were taken away from there, put into foster care and so on.”
I looked at him, trying to ignore the stretch of sky behind him. “That’s shitty.”
He shrugged. “It was better. Safer at least, in the long run. Kind of. It’s…” He trailed off, waving his hand dismissively. “Complicated.”
“Families are.”
“You’re right about that.”
I inched forward along the dark brown wall. “How many siblings do you have?”
“Three older, two younger.”
“What are they called?” I asked almost off-handedly, trying to beat back the first feeling of my heartbeat picking up and my throat closing up ever so slightly.
Jack snorted. “So that’s a story and a half,” he started, immediately taking my attention and making it latch onto himself. “We’re all named after songs.”
I stopped and looked at him, frowning. “Songs?”
“Our parents met at some bar in Anchorage. They bonded over the crappy music there. Dad was a long-haul trucker so he listened to a lot of music to pass time, while Mom just enjoyed her records at home.”
“So where does Jack come from?”
“It’s as easy as ‘Hit The Road, Jack’ actually.” He grinned. “My eldest sister is called Rhiannon, after—”
“Fleetwood Mac. I’m not completely uncultured.”
Chuckling, he continued. “Then there’s Billie Jean—”
I gasped. “No way?”
“Oh, they really went there. Anyway, she goes by Billie. After her there’s Bennie, with an IE, not Y.”
“Bennie and the Jets?”
“Yup.” He turned around, and I did the same, continuing back with him. “Then me, and then the twins.”
“So, Jack, then what?”
“Daniel and Jude.”
“Hey Jude?”
“That’s the one.”
“I don’t know Daniel?”
I stepped around the lounger and almost lost my balance. Jack grabbed my elbow until I was on an even keel again.
“Daniel is a song by Elton John. My mom was a big fan.”
“Well, I got to say you three youngest got the better end of the stick.” I went to the door and sat on the stairs.
