The Cousins(32)

“What’s going to happen?” Milly asks. “With the baby and everything?”

“Well, she’s keeping it. So I’ll have a half sibling at some point this fall. Maybe it’ll be the boy Dad always wanted.” Milly squeezes my hand harder as I add, “I don’t think my parents are going to make it through this. I don’t see how they could. And my father refuses to get a real job and support himself, so…worst-case scenario, I guess my swim coach becomes my stepmother.” The thought gives me a full-body shudder, and I let it run through me before darting an apologetic look at Milly. “I mean, I know you have a stepmother and all, but—”

“Not even close to the same thing,” she says quickly. “There was no cheating involved. My dad didn’t meet Surya until the divorce was finalized. And he wasn’t the one who wanted it in the first place.”



I drop my head. “What is wrong with my father? He could’ve been so much more. It’s like Dr. Baxter said—he had all this potential, and he wasted it. He turned out…so small.”

“I know,” Milly says. “I feel the same way about my mom. Well, she’s not horrible like your dad, but…she’s so cold. She doesn’t let anybody in. My father could never do anything right with her, and he tried so hard. It makes me feel like—what’s the point? If he couldn’t get through, I have no shot. He’s way nicer and more patient.” She gives my hand one last squeeze, then leans back on her elbows with a sigh. “The Story family is seriously messed up.”

The simple truth of that hits me with more surprise than it should. Even though I’ve always known my father’s family wasn’t exactly normal, I used to think there was something…romantic, I guess, about their particular brand of dysfunction. But truth is, my dad and his siblings are all miserable: him ripping our family apart out of a deep-seated need to feel special without working to accomplish anything; Aunt Allison pushing Uncle Toshi away and keeping Milly at arm’s length; Uncle Anders having such a bad relationship with his only son that JT paid an imposter to defy him; and Uncle Archer falling out of touch for years on end due to one addiction or another. For a second, I wish I still had my father on the phone. You need to face up to whatever you did that turned Mildred against you, I’d tell him. Before the person you could’ve been is gone forever.

It would be pointless, though. If there’s one thing my father has an unshakable belief in, it’s himself as a misunderstood genius.

I blink the last of my tears away, and our surroundings finally come into focus. “Are we in a…graveyard?” I ask Milly.



“Oh. Yes. It was, you know, a little more private here.” A small grin tugs at the corners of her mouth. “Check out who we ended up next to. It’s a family reunion.”

I follow her gaze to the letters etched across the gravestone beside us:

Abraham Story





Beloved husband, father, and philanthropist





“Family first, always”





“Ironic quote,” Milly says, and I manage a short laugh.

“You know what?” I say. “My father was right about one thing. Only one thing,” I add as Milly raises a skeptical brow. I feel lighter after finally letting my pent-up tears out, and sharper, too, as though I’ve shed blinders that were forcing me to miss half of what’s around me. “We shouldn’t just sit back and wonder what’s happening. We should do something.”

“Like what?” Milly asks, shifting immediately into problem-solving mode. “Talk to Chaz? Maybe he can put us in touch with Edward Franklin.”

“That’s one idea, but I was thinking of something else.” I stand and brush off my shorts. “Let’s give Hazel that interview she’s been after. And ask some questions of our own.”





Allison paused outside the door to her mother’s study at the sound of familiar voices. “Rest and exercise, Mildred. Both will do you a world of good,” Dr. Baxter said as he zipped up a medical bag. Dr. Baxter didn’t typically do house calls, let alone appointments at nine o’clock at night, but he’d always made an exception for the Storys. Especially in the six months since Father had died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and Mother was suddenly hyperaware of her own heartbeat.

“It feels erratic,” she’d say, one hand clasped tightly over her chest.

But Allison knew what the problem was with her mother’s heart: it was broken.

“I keep telling her that,” came another voice. Theresa Ryan, Mother’s assistant and Matt’s mother. “Let’s bring a yoga instructor here, Mildred. It’s calming and an excellent workout. We could both use it.”



Theresa sounded more stressed than usual. She’d moved into Catmint House a few months ago at Mother’s insistence—“temporarily, just until I get on my feet,” Mildred had promised—and Allison was sure Theresa found the proximity tiring. Mildred’s constant fearfulness and her inability to make even the simplest decision wasn’t surprising at this point in the grief cycle, but it was disconcerting for everyone who was used to the Story business running like a well-oiled machine. Allison knew Adam was feeling pressured too, as their mother kept hinting that she’d like him to come home more often next semester and take an active role in managing some of their properties.