When We Collided(14)

“Enough.” Silas’s voice is quiet. “We’re not playing the game of who has given up the most.” Naomi and I both open our mouths, still arguing our cases. Silas holds up his hand. “Stop. Jonah, you don’t get to disregard Naomi because she was at school most of the year.”

She looks vindicated, but Silas keeps talking. “And Naomi, you don’t get to make unilateral decisions because you’re the oldest. Jonah’s right. I’m okay with anyone who can make Leah laugh like that.”

Naomi’s eyes burn into me. “Fine.”

“Fine.” My jaw clamps after I say the word.

We come back in, holding the soda as our excuse. Vivi has made setting the table into some sort of game, and Leah’s so delighted that Isaac and Bekah wander into the kitchen, too, wanting in on the fun. I give Naomi a look, like See—this is a good thing. She avoids me.

When Vivi’s not looking, I poke Isaac’s shoulder and hand him the plate of food for our mom. He turns to take it upstairs without a word. We do this every night, even though she only sometimes eats it. Other times, she shuffles downstairs to the kitchen at odd hours, searching for anything appetizing. If one of us sees her, she startles like she’s a burglar caught red-handed stealing our food.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Vivi leaps up as everyone else assembles around the table. I’ve set all the food out to be passed around already, so I don’t know what she forgot. “The sparkling juice! Jonah, do you have some little glasses for it somewhere?”

“I think so.” I dig around the hutch until I find mini champagne glasses that must have belonged to my grandmother. There’s a pop as Vivi opens the bottle, and she pours a bit of sparkling juice into each glass, passing them out to my siblings.

It’s a holiday. It was not a holiday five minutes ago.

Vivi climbs back onto the bench with Leah. I nestle in between Isaac and Bekah. Silas and Naomi sit at the ends of the table—their natural places as the oldest.

“Thank you so much for welcoming me into your home,” Vivi says, lifting the little glass. “I don’t have any siblings, and I’m so glad to pretend to be a Daniels for the night.”

A Daniels is not something anyone in Verona Cove has wanted to be for six months now. Her ignorance is a relief. Like we don’t have to fit into our New Life of Mourning as long as Vivi is here. We can breathe easy in our stiflingly sad house.

“And thank you especially to Jonah for the most beautiful meal I’ve seen in ages. I swear to the Man in the Moon, if it tastes half as good as it looks, I’m going to come meowing back at your front door for table scraps.” She winks at Isaac. His cheeks redden beneath the rims of his glasses. “So . . . cheers!”

Vivi holds up her glass and clinks it against everyone else’s. Leah looks like she’s been invited to a tea party with Alice in Wonderland.

Bekah scrutinizes Vivi’s face, in awe of her. “So, your mom lets you wear that lipstick?”

Oh God, kill me. Someone. Anyone. End it. My sister is going to grill Vivi about her appearance. And parents.

Vivi smiles. It makes her lips look like an apple slice. Red Delicious. “My mom is a painter, so, really, she can’t get mad if I paint my lips, now, can she?”

“Cool,” Bekah says under her breath. She’s resting her left hand in her lap, the way Vivi is.

“Oh my God,” Vivi says, swallowing her first bite. “This is the best salad I’ve ever had in my life. Literally. What is in this thing? Like, manna or something?”

“What’s manna?” Leah frowns down at her bowl. “This cheese tastes like barf.”

“Leah,” Naomi snaps. “That’s not nice.”

Vivi just laughs. “Manna is the food they eat in heaven. And stinky cheese is delicious cheese; you just don’t realize that until you’re older. Trust me, though. Someday, you’ll eat this salad again and realize, holy moly, it’s sprinkled with magic.”

I clear my throat. “It’s just lettuce, Gorgonzola, honey-glazed pecans, and diced pear. The dressing is a plum vinaigrette.”

“He makes the dressing himself,” Bekah says. I’m pleasantly surprised that she’d brag about me.

“It’s kinda more of a fall salad,” I say, “because of the—”

“Oh no.” Bekah groans, glancing at Vivi. “I got him started. We’re gonna have to hear about food for the rest of dinner.”

Okay. No longer pleased with Bekah.

Vivi launches into a story about how she once ate armadillo by accident, which has everyone cracking up. Even Naomi wants to laugh. I mean, she’s not actually laughing—she’s ripping pieces of her pizza crust off and chewing them mercilessly. But I can tell she wants to laugh. Once my sister decides to be grouchy, she never changes her mind.

My gaze moves clockwise, taking each person in. The kitchen feels warmer, fuller. Vivi teases Silas and Isaac, who seem sheepish and delighted by the attention. She compliments Bekah and asks Naomi questions about her internship. My siblings are locked into her, rotating in her orbit. I am, too. It’s like I can’t look away.

“Oh my God, Jonah, look at this dessert. Are you kidding me?” Vivi stabs at the cobbler. “Black cherries are my life. I’m serious. They’re my absolute favorite fruit; I’m totally obsessed, like cannot stop eating them the past few weeks.”