“Good,” she said, taking something out of the refrigerator. “Now, here is some nutmeg cake I made yesterday. I wrapped it up for you and Fen. Please leave.”
I took the plastic-wrapped plate she handed me. “Um…”
“Before he gets in a fight with Eddie in front of their grandparents. Take him back to Zabel’s apartment, at least for a night. Tomorrow will be hard with Serj coming back home. I’m going to give Jasmine a sleeping pill, and I will watch over the twins. Being a family again takes time.”
I was so tired, and I desperately wanted five minutes alonewith Fen, just to make sure he was okay. And maybe one more kiss.
But I wasn’t sure I had the willpower to drag him away from the house or if it was even the right thing to do. Fen seemed absorbed with everyone here right now, and maybe that was what he needed, like Jasmine. To be surrounded by people. All these cousins and friends from school. People who cared about him. His very sweet grandparents. And the twins. Even Eddie.
But when I threaded through the villa to let him know that I was going to call my dad and head back to the lodge, I spotted him standing on the terrace between the two friends who’d just shown up—their names I couldn’t remember—and he was nodding, pretending to smile a little, but it was clear that he wasn’t listening.
He was busy staring across the terrace at Eddie, who was downing a bottle of beer with one of their older cousins.
Just beer. Not cocaine. Either way, Eddie wasn’t my responsibility.
Still, it worried me a little, considering everything that had just happened to him. If it were me, and my father had just had a major heart attack after bailing me out of prison in another country for drug possession, I’d probably try to at least pretend I was one hundred percent sober.
I definitely didn’t want to talk to Eddie by myself. That would be foolish.
Maybe I could ask Fen privately whether we needed to intervene?
I made sure I was out of Eddie’s line of sight and discreetly got Fen’s attention. His eyes blinked, and he looked as if he might collapse.
“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting the person next to him. “I need to borrow him.”
“She’s got you cuffed, bro?” one of them mumbled.
“Kitchen help,” the other one murmured.
I felt my ears getting hot, but I was too tired to let it get to me. I just held out my arm to Fen, and he came to me, winding himself around me as we strolled away.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said into my neck. “This is one of the longest days of my life.”
“Nice friends.”
“They aren’t my friends. They’re people I used to go to school with. I don’t know why they’re here. I think Eddie invited them? Fucking prick. I’mthisclose to taking that beer bottle out of his hand and smashing it over his head.”
Well, damn. Maybe Ms. Makruhi was right. Housekeepers usually are. I should’ve realized that, I supposed.
Fen groaned. “Eddie’s lucky that I’m exhausted. I can barely stand, Jane. Fen zombie, grrr. Fen need sleep.”
“I can help you with that. I’ve been instructed to drive you back to the barn to get some rest,” I told him, showing him the cake. “Or, if you’re too tired to leave and would prefer to stay here, I can take you up to your room and call my dad to pick me up—”
“Take me to the barn,” he confirmed. “Because Grandpa Sarafian is taking the guest room, my other grandparents aresleeping in my old room anyway. I was going to have to crash on the couch.”
“Come on, then,” I said, feeling useful. “Let’s get you back to your place.”
I drove the beast of a Jeep at what Fen claimed was the slowest speed the vehicle had been driven since it rolled off the factory line. But he was happy to feel the night breeze, and when we parked at the dog kennel, the walk to the barn was even slower. We were both running out of battery juice.
“Damn, have I only been away from this place two weeks?” he said when we trudged up the stairs to the barn’s loft and he unlocked the tiny apartment. “I came by and picked up some clothes after we came back from the hospital, but it feels like I haven’t been here in a century.”
“How is it, staying at your family home again?”
“Weird. Good. Confusing.” He stared at the floor and then shook his head. “All of those things at once. Mama sat us all down for a family meeting and told us we had to make changes, for my father’s sake. No fighting with Eddie, in other words, to save my father’s heart. So I’m swallowing my plans for revenge, eating crow like a good little boy. We’re going to—get this—family counseling.”
He tried to make counseling sound like a chore, but I was pretty sure I heard some hope underneath his disdain.
“Maybe it will help.” Inside I worried all that compromising he was enduring with Eddie had to involve me, even just a little. “I know it can’t be easy.”
