He hauls me straight from the water, as if I weigh next to nothing. I jump up and down on a rock, trying to warm myself, and my no-longer-quite-white trainers squelch and squeak with the movement.
Jonas looks down at them and chuckles.
“I’m glad I amuse you,” I say darkly.
I’m teasing, because the situation is obviously very funny, but instead of laughing more as I expect him to, my comment seems to sober him.
The sound of a ringtone breaks our awkward moment. He sighs and digs his phone out of his back pocket. The screen is lit up with a picture of Anders pulling a goofy face. Jonas stares at it and I do too—he looks younger in the picture, maybe in his mid-twenties.
“You’re not going to answer that?” I prompt.
He shakes his head and shoves the phone back into his pocket. “What are you doing down here?”
“I went for a walk. Your mum said I could, remember? She ran it by you when we were in the shelter. I hope that’s okay.”
“Yeah, I don’t care,” he replies glibly as his phone starts toring again. He sighs and answers this time with what sounds like “Yello.”
“I’ve called you like a million times, bro!” I hear Anders berate him.
“What’s up?”
“Where have you been?”
“I thought you were at a race today.”
“I am! Why didn’t you answer?”
“I’ve been out.”
“Where?”
“I went for a walk. Bumped into Wren, actually.” Jonas casts me a look, raising one eyebrow.
There’s silence at the other end of the line.
“Wren?” Anders asks at last.
“Yeah. She’s right here.”
“Put her on.”
My insides squirm as Jonas offers up his phone. “He wants to talk to you,” he prompts.
I tentatively put the device to my ear. “Hello?”
“What are you doing with my brother?” Anders demands to know.
Is he angry? Why?
“Nothing. I bumped into him down by the river.” I sound defensive.
Jonas is walking out from under the trees, but I stay where I am, shivering in my wet clothes on the rocky bank.
“What was he doing there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he have anything with him? Is he okay?”
