“But who knows what they’ve become. No one’s impervious to a bad influence,” Ingrid wassaying.
“Do all of you live on the compound?” Iasked.
“Yep, but we’re not all here,” Janesaid.
“We’ll all be here tonight though. The Wolf Moon brings all the pack together.” Ingrid chewed on a bite of salad, then chased it down with a sip of something that smelled like sweettea.
Samuel, who couldn’t seem to help himself from taking care of me, had poured me a tall glass of the iced brownbeverage.
“Too bad more of you couldn’t make it down here,” Ingridsaid.
One of the twins smiled brashly. “She’s just sorryAugustcouldn’t make it downhere.”
My vertebrae jammedtogether.
Ingrid shoved her shoulder into her sister’s. “Shut up, Poppy. Besides, he’s probably off in Iraq. I heard he enlistedagain.”
August had never told me where he’d been stationed, but he’d toldher?
I was clutching my fork so hard that I was probably bending it. I set it down before anyone could notice. “He did, but he came backearly.”
Jane plopped both her elbows on the table. “Daddy wants to commission another building from them, so you’ll see him soonenough.”
“She’s totes whipped,” the youngest brother, Jack,said.
Jealousy sharpened my senses, or maybe it was the approach of the fullmoon.
“He probably has a girlfriend,” the other twin told Ingrid. “Dudes like him don’t stay single for long. Dudes in general. Seriously, men are like incapable of bein’ alone. Why is that,Sam?”
Samuel set down the skewer he’d picked clean. “Why you asking me? I’m on abreak.”
“Since last week, and you’re already fillin’ upherplate.”
Sam flushed. “I’m bein’ a good host, is all,” he muttered around a bite ofmeat.
“So? Does August have a girlfriend?” Janeasked.
“Yeah,” I said slowly, hoping my voice wasn’t giving away all I wasfeeling.
Ingrid blinked in surprise. “It’s that girl Sienna, isn’tit?”
Had he cheated on Sienna with Ingrid, or had he slept with Ingrid before hooking up with Sienna? The chronology of August’s girlfriends was foreign to me, not that I had any desire to familiarize myself with his string ofconquests.
“You guys know Sienna?” I asked in a woodenvoice.
“We knowofher. He mentioned her. They were casually seein’ each other the summer he came to install this building.” Ingrid tipped her head to the roof. “They weren’t serious or nothing.” After a beat, she asked, “Are they seriousnow?”
“No.”
“Is he dating anyoneelse?”
I wasn’t sure why, but instead of setting her straight, I said, “No.” And then I focused on my food even though my appetite hadvanished.
12
After lunch,Jane led Liam and me to a cottage. She gave us a tour of the simply decorated space: one leather couch, two armchairs, a wooden coffee table, a stone chimney blackened byuse.
In the bedroom, there was a queen-sized bed and a gray-tiled bathroom. Everything was clean and functional. There were no paintings on the wall, no books atop the mantle, no pictures on any of the side tables, no chemical smells, just the scent of sun-warmed animal hide and scrubbedpine.
