“Mom, it’s me.”
My mom starts crying.“Maeve, you’re alive.”Then she yells to my father. “George, Noah found Maeve!”Then back to me.“Honey, are you okay?”
“Yes, Mom.” My voice turns barely audible.
“Noah will bring you to us, honey. Don’t you worry!”She lets out a loud sigh of relief.“It’s so wonderful that he’s the one who found you. He’s going to be your family soon. I’m so happy he was therefor you!”
He was there for you. Not ‘I’m happy you’re alive’ but ‘happy he was there for you.’ And family? I eyeball him subtly. How exactly is he going to become my family? My mom clearly having his number saved in her phone and calling himhoneytotally freaked me out. Is he my sister’s future husband or something? Can her engagement be the ‘big news’ they were going to tell the world about? That might add up.
“Okay, Mom. I guess I’ll see you soon.”
“Yes, dear! Very soon. I’m so excited!”And she hangs up without saying goodbye. It’s been her style as long as I can remember, and I see nothing has changed.
I pass the phone back to Noah as I feel two hot stares on my face. I glance between him and Ezra and retreat into my seat, trying to appear small. Well, smaller. I don’t have energy to congratulate him now, nor can I say how happy I am for him because I don’t feel happy. Not with Ezra’s eyes drilling a hole in the back of my skull. He finally decided to pay attention to me, and this is how he chooses to do that.
“Happy to be back in the land of the living?” Noah asks with a warm smile.
“Yay,” I reply unenthusiastically, making his smile turn into a sad one. He carefully takes my hand which has been resting on my lap since I don’t know what to do with it and gives it a gentle squeeze.
Ezra clears his throat loudly and asks Noah, “When is the board meeting?”
Noah twists his body so he’s facing him. “Seriously? Now?” He sounds angry.
“When?” Ezra repeats through gritted teeth.
“Well, I was able to make them hold off on that. We agreed it happens when we find you, so we can attend it.” He snaps his fingers and clicks his tongue. “Oh, right. You can’t because you’ll be busy with your wedding and honeymoon.”
My head snaps toward Ezra like someone’s just slapped me.
“Noah!” he barks.
“What do you want from me, asshole?” Noah snaps back, losing all the euphoria from finding his brother alive and well.
I try swallowing a giant lump in my throat but can’t. It sits in my airway, not letting me breathe.
Wedding? Honeymoon? Becoming family with Noah? Is Noah the wrong brother in my assumption?
“Maeve?” calls out the voice that I thought had becomemine. “Maeve.” A slight note of begging doesn’t help me breathe. Nor does his hand on my shoulder that suddenly feels like a brick of lead. I shrug, forcing him not to touch me.
“Maeve?” he calls again.
“Shut up, Ezra,” Noah barks back and turns toward me. “Maeve, do you want me to drop him off here and drive you somewhere?”
I shake my head.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” I whisper, suddenly feeling tiny.
“The fuck you will!” The asshole chimes in at the same time from the back seat.
Noah slowly turns toward him. “For the love of everything, Ezra.” He takes a deep breath and exhales loudly. “Shut the fuck up.”
The tension is palpable in the air, and I feel like Ezra is about to go for his brother’s jugular. I don’t know why though. Did he want to tell me the happy news himself? He had plenty of time to do so before Noah showed up, so quite frankly, I don’t want to hear anything now. Was it the thing he said I was going to ruin? Everything he’s built. Like hisfucking family? With my sister? I amthe other womannow. To my sister.
I’m about to vomit.
“Can I borrow some money?” I ask Noah quietly. “All I had was a hundred bucks I borrowed from a homeless guy, and now it’s on the bottom of the ocean.” I sniffle miserably. “I don’t want to ask my family for anything.”
I don’t care if my request seems weird since I prefer asking for a loan from a stranger—hence Jeff—rather than my family, but it’s hard to explain our dynamics without seeing us around each other. Granted, I haven’t seen my family for years and was hoping something might have changed. But it hasn’t. I heard it during the phone call. And nothing will change, that much is already clear.
