“No,” he said, a little repulsed. “Thank you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Take a hint, Lisa,” Lucas said. “You’ve been amicus curiaed.”
“My sister and I already have plans,” he said, turning his body away. “There’s a bar she wants to go to.”
“A bar?” she asked incredulously.
“She collects matchbooks.”Among other things.
His eyes slid to Odessa, who appeared to be clutching a bunch of hellebore. In Victorian times, the plant was used to indicate scandalous behavior. She waved them at him, drawing disapproving stares from the Cape Cod set as black petals scattered from the mangled blooms. He wondered how she’d managed to get that eyesore of a bouquet on and off the plane.
“I imagine we’ll go there and have a drink or two before we get back on the road,” he murmured, staring at the flowers. “It’s a long drive to California.”
“You’re not celebrating with us?” Lisa asked, just as Lucas said, “You’redrivingback to California?”
“I don’t really care for planes. My family is a little eccentric.”
“Ah,old money,” Lucas said in a loud stage whisper.
“Oh.” She looked disappointed. “All right.”
He managed to avoid any further conversation before the graduation ceremony began. Then he picked up his cap from where he’d tossed it and made his way to his sister, whileeveryone was taking pictures. Cal had never liked having his taken and wanted to leave before he could be asked to be part of any groups.
Odessa waited by a stately tree, ruthlessly landscaped. He plucked the hellebore from his sister, giving them a castigating shake. “These are a skin irritant.”
“You’re taking this Jury Doctoring thing way too seriously. Who’s the girl?”
“Juris doctor.And she’s no one.” He stuffed the flowers into a trash can. “How are Ben and his wife?”
“Ugh, soboring. All Ben does is sit around and mope, and Noelle doesn’t want to doanything.”
Cal paused in the process of reaching for his keys to the car, already packed with his belongings. He was that eager to leave. Or had been. “I thought they were on honeymoon.”
“Well, they came back early. Lucky us.” Odessa scoffed at one of the well-manicured maples. “I bet the sex was bad.”
“Did something happen?”
“How would I know? Do I look like his diary?”
“You have your finger on the pulse of this family. You know I can’t hold everything together while I’m gone.”
Odessa gave him a bitter smirk. “Nobody asked you to play the martyr, Baby Cal. That’s what the sparrows are for.”
Is it, though?He frowned deeply, remembering Noelle’s uncomplicated sweetness.
And her sister’s—
No.
That was none of his concern. She had chosen, and the rest was done and dusted.
Now it was up to Ben to shield her with his wings.
Flying would have been faster but Cal did not want to ship his car and driving allowed him a certain degree of freedom, even if it meant that it would take them the better part of a week to return home. They stayed in motels with green pools and peeling stucco that were happy to take cash in exchange for keeping secrets.
“What if it was always like this?” Odessa said, examining the cracked medicine cabinet with a look of curiosity.
