“If we can move him to my truck, it will be better,” Andreas said. “There is a medical center in Chora. I will drive him there.”
“I’m sorry,” her mother interrupted. “What was it you said you did?”
“I am a builder,” Andreas said. He certainly looked the part in his splattered coveralls.
“He did all the work on this house,” Skye told her. “I’d have been lost without him.”
Andreas glanced at her, his expression unreadable. Was it hope? Forgiveness? Or just confusion? Skye couldn’t tell. But then again, did she really know him at all?
Martyn shuffled up on his elbows only to howl in pain. There was blood on the cushion, more congealing in a sticky patch on the back of her husband’s head.
“He might be concussed,” she said. “We shouldn’t wait any longer. Mum, can you go and grab a towel from upstairs? You’ll know where—there’s only one bathroom.”
“You are shaking,” Andreas said.
Skye tensed, her breath catching as he gathered her hands and squeezed them.
“I’m just in shock,” she said. “The earthquake. I’ve never— It was scary. Thank God for your steel supports.”
A smile tugged, the corners of Andreas’s mouth twitching.
“All the houses here are OK,” he said. “All but one.”
“Some help here,” Martyn barked.
Skye jumped and pulled her hands away.
“Sorry,” she said automatically. Obedience born from habit, sustained by self-preservation. Somewhat reluctantly, Andreas got to his feet. They each took one of Martyn’s arms, slowly hoisting him upright. His skin had taken on a gray tinge and felt clammy to the touch.
“Do not put any weight on the foot,” Andreas warned as Cassandra appeared on the stairs.
“It’s a bit of a mess up there,” she said, handing over a towel. “A section of your wall has fallen through along the landing. Itlooks to me as if there was already a gap there. The bricks appear to be missing behind the plaster.”
Skye looked at Andreas and saw the same question waiting in his eyes.
“Can we get on with it?” Martyn hissed. “I’m rather in need of some pain relief.”
They headed outside, Martyn hobbling between them.
“Perímene,” Andreas said when they reached the boundary wall. He fished his keys from his coveralls pocket and ran to fetch his truck.
“You two seem cozy,” Martyn grunted. “Did he even know you’re married, or have you been lying to your newcommunityabout that as well?”
Skye ignored him, though she couldn’t disregard the sickness that washed over her. She had lied, outrightly and by omission, and even though she’d had a valid reason for doing so, it still didn’t feel right, had never sat right with her. When her friends learned the truth, would they ever trust her again? Would Andreas?
“I asked you a question,” Martyn persisted.
The mask was beginning to slip.
He was angry and getting angrier.
Skye started to reply, but her mother cut across her.
“You’re in no fit state to be having his kind of conversation, Martyn,” she said briskly. “Let’s get you patched up first, shall we? Then we can all sit down and talk properly later.”
The truck pulled up. Andreas got out and helped Skye ease Martyn into the back seat. Victoria and Adam had come out into their front yard. Both looked shell-shocked but were otherwise unscathed.
“This is my mum,” Skye told them. “Can she stay with you while I go to the medical center?”
