This Close to Okay(59)

“Have you seen Lionel?”

“Not yet. I think some friends of mine came up this way,” he said.

“Are you looking for a Bride of Frankenstein?” Tallie asked.

“Nope. Should I be?”

“There’s one up there. I thought maybe she was yours,” she said, with relief ticking and cooling.

“She’s definitely not mine,” Nico said and smiled again like he could eat her up in one bite.

“Okay, well, there’s also Tinker Bell and a werewolf in the bedroom, the twins from The Shining, superheroes in the library, maybe a piece of toast, too,” Tallie recalled.

“Superheroes! That’s them. I’ll catch up with you later, lieve schat?” he asked, looking at her, calling her dear treasure like always. Nico’s mother was from the Netherlands. He was a polyglot, and Tallie especially loved hearing the Dutch walk up the stairs of his throat and stomp out.

“Yes. Come find me later!” she said, feeling hot. She waved and Nico continued up the stairs.

“So that’s your man,” Emmett said before taking another pull of champagne.

“What? Oh. No. I mean in college, yes, but not um…anymore.”

“You’re blushing. You look like you just got plucked.”

“What?! I don’t even know what that means. Quit it.”

They walked down the second-floor hallway, where through the crowd, she recognized her brother by his height and how his body moved. He was standing in the corner, tall and hairy in a fully masked Bigfoot costume that looked straight off a Hollywood backlot. The kind of expensive, realistic Bigfoot costume pranksters bought and donned so their friends could film them walking through the woods in order to sell the footage to sensationalists.

BIGFOOT SPOTTED AGAIN, THIS TIME IN KENTUCKY!

Small orange bulbs twinkled and drooped across the ceiling, glimmered from the open bedrooms. When they got to him, Lionel reached into the cooler on the floor, slooshed around in the ice, and pulled his Bigfoot hand out. He shoved a glowing pony of beer at Emmett, awash in pumpkin light. He’d finished his champagne, and Lionel took the bottle from him, clinking it into a small recycling box. It was classic, perfect-timing, larger-than-life Lionel, anticipating Emmett having an empty bottle although he’d never met him and being responsible enough to make sure he recycled the glass. Her brother was cosmically unreal.

“Li, this is Emmett,” Tallie said, hugging her brother around his furry waist. Lionel hugged Tallie back, squeezing her until she squeaked. He reached up and snatched his mask off, held it in his hand like an Old Testament king who’d just decapitated a traitor. His handsome face was a little sweaty, smiling.

“Emmett, I’m Lionel Clark, Lulah’s big brother. Welcome to my home. Welcome,” he said, wrapping his arms around Emmett and patting his back.

“Nice to meet you, Lionel. I’ve heard so many awesome things about you,” Emmett said.

“Well, same, because our mom called this afternoon and told me she had breakfast with you two. And that you were cleaning out Lulah’s gutters. Thank you, Emmett. I was going to say something to you about it,” Lionel said, looking at Tallie.

“Of course, no problem,” Emmett said.

Tallie walked around Lionel, petting his costume.

“It’s got Chewbacca vibes, right?” Lionel said. “And you two are X-Files! I dig it. You both look great. I’ve just been chilling up here by the cooler, spying on people walking around looking for me.”

“There’s a Tinker Bell and a werewolf totally boning in one of your bedrooms upstairs. And Nico’s here,” Tallie said.

“Nico Tate? Are you…y’know what…all right, then,” Lionel said. Tallie shook her head and smiled at him. “Happy Halloween, right?”

“Happy Halloween!” Tallie said, giggling a bit.

“So Emmett, you’re from Clementine?”

“I am,” Emmett said.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here. And I’m glad you’re taking good care of my sister,” he said, putting Tallie in a mild headlock, giving her a gentle noogie.

“Li, stop. You’re messing up my Scully-ness!” Lionel released her, and she punched his arm. “Are Dad and Glory here?” Tallie asked, refluffing her hair.

“Yeah, Dad texted me. They should be down there somewhere,” he said. “Hey, let me know if y’all need anything. Make yourself at home.”

Tallie finished the rest of her champagne, and Lionel took the bottle from her before reaching into the cooler and handing her a drippy pony of penny-colored beer.

“Oh, I love you,” she said to him.

“I love you, too, Sis.”

Tallie and Emmett walked down the long twinkling hallway, pulsing like a bloody vein leading away from her brother: the heart. She turned to see him pulling his Bigfoot mask onto his head, secreting himself again.





EMMETT




(There is a small art gallery on the first floor of Lionel’s house. Most people would probably call it a hallway, but it’s wildly spacious, lined with framed paintings. Two large Goldscheider vases frame the doorway like centurions. A golden Brancu?i-like sculpture on a table casts its shadow on the shiny hardwood. A Brancu?i recently bagged over fifty-seven million at auction. Everything in the house is moneyed, dripping with it like the waterfall splashing beneath the large living-room window.)