Elusion(40)

Josh takes my helmet, setting it down alongside his on a bare laminate booth tucked into a tiny corner of the room. I run my fingers through a few knotted strands of hair and look around. It’s a typical trailer layout, with a living-and-dining room suite that could practically fit inside my bedroom. A worn brown fake-leather couch is under a soot-streaked window with two mismatched nesting chairs facing it, so close they’re almost touching.

I can’t imagine what it must be like to live like this, displaced in what used to be a real neighborhood. Then again, I can’t quite imagine going back home to the Historic Sector either, especially since my world seems to be slowly unraveling.

“Flynn won’t be back for a while; he’s pulling doubles at Lymestone,” Josh says.

“Lymestone. That’s one of the refineries, right?”

Josh nods and then hesitates, looking away. “You sure you’re okay . . . hanging out here, I mean? You know, Flynn took me in because he had to, so . . . it’s not exactly cozy. . . .”

“I’m fine,” I assure him, trying to ease his discomfort a little. If I had to interpret the sudden halting of his speech, I’d guess there are more family secrets in Josh’s past than just Nora. I find that oddly comforting.

There’s an awkward beat of silence as he leans up against the front door, his hands in his pockets.

“So how long have you been staying here?” I ask.

“Just a couple weeks. My parents sold their house, and Nora and I needed a place to crash.”

Josh rubs the back of his head with his hand—a gesture he performs whenever he seems a little uncomfortable. Maybe I’ll see less and less of it the more we get to know each other.

“Sounds like pretty close quarters.”

“You have no idea,” he replies, his shoulders rolling back a little. “Nora was living by herself in our old place while it was on the market. She only moved her stuff here when it sold, but she was hardly ever around. Preferred to stay with friends and all.” Josh pushes himself away from the door and turns toward the window. “When my parents split up—well, Nora took it harder than my other two sisters.”

“Wow, three sisters, huh?”

A smirk catches on his lips. “Yeah, and I’m the youngest, too.”

I almost tell Josh how jealous I am. The closest thing I’ve ever had to a brother is Patrick. Being here with Josh and listening to him talk about his family—it just gets me thinking about how important blood ties are. Even when relationships become fractured, or someone dies, the connections you have to your family are never lost.

When it came to Patrick, I always believed our friendship somehow mirrored that, but now I don’t know what to think.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice there’s a photocube sitting on a side table, and just as I reach for it, I feel Josh’s steady gaze on me.

I glance in his direction and hold it up. “Do you mind?”

I hope he doesn’t think I’m being nosy, even though I am.

Josh answers with a noncommittal shrug, so I give it a shake. Oddly enough, there’s only one digital photo flickering inside. It’s a family photo, but it seems to be a couple of years old—Josh’s clothes hang off his body a bit and he’s a few inches shorter, his smiling face framed by a mop of copper-brown hair. He is standing outside a historic-looking brick colonial, with two of his three sisters posed next to an attractive woman with short golden hair and Josh’s distinct amber eyes. Josh and another sister—more petite and wiry than the others—are positioned on the other side of a burly man with bushy russet hair and a thick handlebar mustache.

“That was two years ago, the summer before my sophomore year.” Suddenly Josh is standing right next to me, his arm slightly brushing up against mine. “Nora was a senior,” he says, pointing to the girl next to him. “It was the day Sally and Paige were going back to college.”

I bring the photocube closer to my face so I can get a better look at Nora. Her lips are pulled into a tight smile, and her pixie cut really shows off her strong cheekbones. It’s weird—I have this odd feeling like I’ve seen her before, but I’m not sure where. Then again, her expression is so warm; maybe I just want to believe that I know her. All my friends have pretty much fallen away since my father died—it’s like they think losing a parent is contagious or something—but from the looks of Nora, I’d like to believe that she’d be the one person who’d stick by you through the hard stuff.

Then again, maybe I’m just projecting what I’m starting to feel about Josh.

“So where are Sally and Paige now?”

“Sally’s in Australia. She’s married and has a kid. Paige is in California, teaching.”

“And your parents?”

Josh sits down on the couch, stretching his legs out. “Mom is spending time with Paige. And my dad just got a job in Alaska.”

“Do any of them know about Nora?”

“No, I don’t want them to worry. Not yet, anyway.” He sighs. “This isn’t the first time she’s gone MIA. Unfortunately, they’re kind of used to it.”

“But you’re not?”

“She’s my sister,” he says. “I’m always going to care what happens to her. No matter how stupid and irresponsible she acts.”