All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(16)

I said my next line. ‘You could come with us if you want.’

‘I’m not sure I’m much of a nightclub person,’ Win conceded.

Scarlet and I had prepared for such a response.

‘A lot of nightclubs in Albany?’ Scarlet teased him.

He smiled. ‘Well, we used to go on hayrides sometimes.’

‘Sounds fun,’ Scarlet said with a flirtatious dash of sarcasm.

‘A lot of hayrides in New York City?’ he asked.

Scarlet laughed. I could tell she was about to have her way with Win.

We arranged to meet at my apartment – it was the closest to the club – that night at eight.

When I got back from school, the first thing I did was check on Leo, but he wasn’t home. I told myself not to worry, that there was probably a simple explanation for his absence. I went into Nana’s room. She was sleeping, but Imogen was sitting in the leather wing chair we kept by the bed, the chair that used to be Daddy’s. Three fresh pink carnations sat in the vase on the windowsill: Nana had had a visitor.

I waved to Imogen. She put her finger to her lips to indicate that I should be quiet. Imogen had been Nana’s nurse since I was thirteen, and she sometimes forgot that I was hardly a little girl prone to stomping into rooms where my grandmother was sleeping. (Not that I ever had been.) I nodded and beckoned Imogen into the hallway. Draping her book over the worn arm of the burgundy chair, she rose and closed the door gently behind her. I asked her if she knew where Leo was.

‘Out with your cousin,’ Imogen informed me. ‘Galina said it was fine.’

‘Did they say where they were going?’

‘I’m sorry Annie. I honestly wasn’t paying attention. Galina had a rough afternoon.’ She shook her head. ‘For a swim, maybe? No, that doesn’t make any sense.’ Imogen frowned. ‘But I swear it was something to do with swimming.’

Of course. The Pool.

‘Did I do wrong not to stop Leo?’

‘No,’ I told her. The truth was, it was neither Imogen’s job nor her place to watch my brother. That was my job, a job made even more challenging by the fact that, in order to preserve his feelings, I had to act like I wasn’t watching him at all. Also, I did have school to attend. I thanked Imogen, and she went back to reading her book in Daddy’s chair.

I was about to head across town to claim Leo when he came through the door. He was out of breath and flushed. ‘Oh,’ he said when he saw me, ‘I was trying to beat you home. I didn’t want you to worry, Annie.’

‘Too late,’ I said.

Leo gave me a hug. He was damp with sweat, and I pushed him away. ‘You’re smelly,’ I told him. Leo hugged me even tighter. It was a game with him. I knew he wouldn’t let go until I said I loved him. ‘OK, Leo. I love you. I love you already! Now tell me where you were.’

‘You’ll be proud of me, Annie. I was out getting a new job!’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘Imogen said you were at the Pool.’

‘That’s where my new job is, Annie. Just until they reopen the clinic. It pays better than the clinic, too,’ Leo said.

I cleared my throat. ‘What kind of a job?’ I asked softly so that Leo wouldn’t hear how angry I was.

‘Maintenance things. Cleaning the floors and stuff. Jacks says they need a guy, and I’m real good at that sort of thing, Annie. You know I am.’

I asked Leo how he had become aware of such an opportunity, and he told me that Cousin Jacks had stopped by the apartment to visit Nana that morning. (This explained the fresh carnations.) Jacks had been surprised to find Leo home in the middle of the day so Leo had told him the story of the clinic getting shut down. Jacks then mentioned that they were looking for a maintenance guy at the Pool and that Leo would be perfect if he was interested in making some ‘easy money’ before the clinic reopened.

‘Easy money? Were those his exact words?’ I asked.

‘I—’ Leo shook his head. ‘I’m not sure, Annie. Even after the guy at the Pool offered me the job, I told him I’d have to talk to you and Nana first. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes. But the thing is, Leo, our relatives, I mean the guys who work at the Pool, aren’t always the nicest sort of people to be hanging out with.’

‘I’m not so stupid, Annie,’ Leo said in a harder voice than I’d ever heard him use. ‘I’m not so stupid as you think. I know what our family does. I know what Daddy used to do, too. I got hurt because of what Daddy used to do, remember? I know it every day.’

‘Of course you do, Leo. I know you’re not stupid.’

‘I want to pull my weight, Annie. I feel bad that I don’t have a job right now. If Nana dies and I don’t have a job, they could take you and Natty away. And Cousin Jacks is a real nice guy, Annie. He told me you don’t like him, but that was only because you’d heard something he said wrong.’

I snorted. Nice Cousin Jacks had gotten wasted and put his hand on my boob. Nothing to mishear there. ‘I don’t think so, Leo.’ I looked at my brother. He was wearing grey trousers that were too big on him through the waist (they had been Daddy’s) and a white T-shirt. Even though he was wiry, his arms were muscular from all the lifting they had him do at the clinic. He looked capable. Powerful, even. Not like someone who needed to be protected. Certainly not like someone whose little sister lay awake in bed worrying about him.