‘Are you serious? What’re you waiting for, dude?’ I crouch down to Scout-level and give him a hefty scratch behind the ears. He just barks at me, likeMove.
‘Okay, dog. Go on.’ I scoot aside, and Scout takes the opening. He immediately bounds through the door, sniffing about at the floor before jumping – fuck – right up on the bed, right up onto Jordan.
Boo ambles more calmly into the room, nuzzling his wet nose into my arm. I wrap my arms around the big dog, ruffle his fur, before turning back to the horror scene that’s about to be Scout scaring the shit out of Jordan.
She’s definitely awake now, but she’s also definitely not scared. With eyes still fighting sleep, she grins at the dumb dog with his paws all up on the blankets. ‘Stop it,’ she laughs when he presses his nose to her cheeks. ‘Oh, sweet boy. Come here.’ She pushes herself to sitting up, sheets still wrapped round her, and strokes his fur with a scratch here and there that has Scout’s tail wagging like a power fan. Boo is more apprehensive, but snakes out from under my arms to join his brother, eager to cash in on this new experience.
It’s really hard to ignore how perfect it all is as I haul myself to my feet, and I can’t help but smile. Jordan and the dogs, natural best friends, just like that. Her hair falls across her cheek as she cuddles Scout and Boo, beaming at me with a happy, ‘You have beautiful dogs.’
There’s just the one important part of the equation I have yet to factor in, and it hits me all at once as the word ‘dogs’ escapes her lips.
If the dogs are here, so is Genny.
The smile disappears from my face. ‘Shit. My sister. Holy … I think my sister’s here.’
‘Your—’ Jordan’s expression changes similarly, and she freezes mid-pet. ‘She’s not. Rod—’
The ring of my doorbell downstairs says otherwise. ‘ROOOOD!’ Genny’s voice rings out. ‘I can’t take the doggy door in, you know!’
And if Genny’s here …
‘Tali. Oh, fuck.’ The same word pounds its way through my head: reckless. I’m not saying this wasn’t a good decision. It was an incredible decision, actually. But it was reckless. As good as this was for me, as good as all this feels, even right now, I swore off complicating Tali’s life the second that Charlotte left. And this? This is suddenly the definition of complicated. ‘Jordan, you—’
‘Yes. Yes, I’m on it. Do you have a back door?’ she huffs as she hooks on her bra before going for her jeans, grabbing them off the lamp they somehow ended up on. The lamp, which is definitely askew. A photo frame is crooked. That lighthouse painting hanging in the left corner of the room is now on the floor. I stare out the door, where the trail of clothing lies all the way down the stairs.
‘Rod.’ Jordan is already fully clothed, save for her tank top, which she darts around me to grab out of the hallway. She pauses mid-grab. ‘Do not worry about me. I swear. I will have disappeared in one minute, and I will take all of the evidence with me. Put on a shirt.’
I snap out of my delirium with that last bit, and grab the shirt from where it lies not far from the site of Jordan’s. She’s already hustling down the stairs, picking up her jacket and boots as she makes for the back patio, and I shout a dazed ‘Coming!’ at the front door as I actively struggle to get my shirt on. The dogs aren’t far behind, even normally languid Boo, who’s suddenly developed pace. I scoop up my vest, toss it on the banister, and open the door a second later.
‘Hey,’ I manage.
‘God. What dumpster fire did you jump in?’ Genny, arms crossed, eyebrows raised, looks me up and down like she can seethe signs of one-night stand written all over me. She’s remarkably put together for whatever time in the morning it is, already in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, with her brown hair up in a claw clip. ‘Tali’s still back at the farmhouse. The kids went down hard after Friday Sundaes. Don’t expect her to be up till ten.’
‘Thank you.’ I quite literally press my hands together. ‘Genny, you’re—’
‘Your house smells like woman.’ Genny invites herself in, as big sisters tend to do. She grins at the dogs before returning immediately to her investigation, eyes sliding over every surface of my house. ‘Maybe you erased the rest of the evidence. But,’ she smirks, ‘I know it, Roddy, a woman was here, wasn’t she?’
‘You’d better not say a damn word, Gen.’
‘Safe with me,’ she practically snickers as she hops up into a chair at the island. The dogs scramble over at the mere implication of some sort of food. ‘Your dogs are hungry. Again.’
‘They’re big dogs!’ I retort. I head to grab the bags and make their bowls, though. Great Pyrenees are the epitome of gentle giants. We adopted ours from the shelter as brothers, intent on keeping them together, and we’ve had them for the last two years. Scout and Boo shed everywhere, have increasingly stubborn tantrums (all Scout, actually), and drool on anything that looks remotely ruglike, but we have a special kind of adoration for them. ‘Come on.’ I look up at my sister knowingly. ‘They’re lovable.’
‘Fine,’ she admits, but her gaze does soften as she watches the dogs chow down. ‘Anyways, back to the moment at hand. What in theworldhappened to the house? All your photo frames are fuckin’ sideways.’
I know Genny has to be teasing me now, because her eyesglitter with satisfied amusement. ‘That concludes this conversation,’ I declare, running a hand through my mussed hair.
‘Alright, baby bro,’ Genny chirps. She’s still got a sly look on her face. ‘Just thought I’d try and help you figure your shit out. You know, before Bia comes down—’
‘Bia’s coming?’
I think my jaw is about to hit the floor. No way. Bia’s always swamped over the summer. There’s no way she’s got time for a summer holiday.
‘Oh, yeah. Must have forgotten to mention.’ Now Genny’s just enjoying the torture she’s inflicting on me. If I thought Genny saw right through me, Bia will have me diced up into pieces and buried in the backyard. Genevieve provides a glass of wine and a joke about your poor decisions. Bianca provides a good kick in the ass and a reminder that you need to lock the fuck in.
‘Forgotten?’ The eldest Wilson sister is anything but forgettable. Genny’s been waiting for the perfect moment to use this ammo. ‘How the hell did she get a holiday from the restaurant?’
‘Found someone she trusts enough to hold the joint up for a week,’ says Genny, checking her nails all absentmindedly, like she hasn’t just dropped an enormous bomb on me. ‘She’ll want to hear about this, you know.’
