His forehead creased with sympathy. ‘I heard about what happened to your dad. I’m sorry.’
I silently nodded my thanks.
‘He really didn’t tell you anything about your family?’ Jackson asked. ‘Nothing at all?’
‘Nope.’ I shook my head, my mouth a tight unhappy line. ‘Not a thing.’
‘And you have no idea why?’
‘I wish I did,’ I replied, the backs of my eyes prickling with tears as my nose started to burn.
‘It must be a lot to take in,’ he said, his hand resting lightly on my shoulder. ‘You know, if you ever need someone to talk to—’
Lydia came crashing back through the door, three very full glasses in her hands, each of them spilling as she cantered across the parlour.
‘Arnold Palmer, Arnold Palmer.’ She held them out for us to take, one for me, one for Jackson, the last one for her. ‘I put some rosemary in there to gussy it up a little. Let me know if you need it sweeter, I can add a little more sugar.’
‘I’m sure it’s perfect,’ I said, squinting at the woody branch sticking out the glass as I took my first sip. It was the sweetest thing a human being had ever consumed. I could feel my teeth rotting in my head as my blood sugar levels sky-rocketed. Could a human develop diabetes in one day? We were about to find out.
‘So great,’ I said, struggling to swallow it down. ‘Thank you.’
Lydia settled on the floor in front of the couch, stirring her drink with the sprig of rosemary and clashing brilliantly with the antique wool rug. ‘What’d I miss?’
‘Nothing,’ I answered with a quick glance at Jackson. ‘I was just asking if the two of you have lived in Savannah your whole lives.’
‘Certainly have,’ he said with a kind smile and I relaxed a little, knowing he wasn’t going to press the subject of myoblivious upbringing. ‘Savannahians born and raised but our mom got remarried last year and our stepdad—’
‘Jeremy,’ Lydia interrupted, drawing out every syllable of the name and heaping on disapproval.
‘Jeremy,’ Jackson repeated with the same obvious disdain, ‘got a job in Charleston. We stayed back to finish the school year and I guess now we’re staying on for the summer while Mom and—’
‘Jeremy.’
Another gag from Lydia.
‘While Mom andJeremylook for a house.’
‘They’re living in an apartment right now,’ Lydia explained. ‘No room for us. I kinda think Jeremy likes it better that way.’
‘I’d rather stay here anyway,’ her brother added. ‘Who wants to live inCharleston?’
They shared a look that suggested that living in Charleston was almost as terrible a concept as Jeremy himself, and moving there would be second only to relocating to the seventh circle of hell.
‘Your parents are divorced?’ I guessed, rattling my ice cubes against the glass to help dilute the world’s sweetest drink.
‘Not quite. Our bio-dad took off before we were born, we never knew him,’ Lydia replied with an ease I did not see reflected in her brother’s face. ‘No one cares now but it was a big disgrace to our grandmother. A Powell daughter hooking up with some travelling artist who disappeared in the night, never to be seen again? Ol’ Virginia took to her bed for weeks.’ She scowled at her brother when he flashed her a warning look. ‘What? Don’t look at me like that.’
‘TMI?’ he replied. ‘Emily didn’t ask for our entire family history.’
‘Whatever, Jackson,’ she dismissed before chugging her drink. ‘She would’ve found out eventually.’
‘Our grandmother says we’re the same age,’ he said, turning back to me and ignoring his sister so easily I had to assume he’d had a lot of practice. ‘You’re sixteen too?’
‘Yep,’ I confirmed, beyond relieved that he’d asked a question before I had to come up with a response to all of that. I got the feeling Lydia didn’t believe in leaving out any details, ever. ‘I’ll be seventeen in June.’
‘We turn seventeen in August,’ she said happily. ‘Going into junior year in the fall and it better be here. I can’t stand the thought of having to start over in—’ She paused to shudder. ‘Charleston.’
‘WithJeremy,’ I added.
