Page 21

‘My brother, Daniel, is at Harvard Law. He’s also vice president of the tennis club and clerks for Senator Duval in his spare time.’

‘He has spare time?’ I joked, hoping to cover my weird reaction at her mention of the Creep.

‘Apparently. My older sister, Julianne, is studying medicine at NYU. Back last year there was a moment where it looked like she was going to specialize in family medicine or general practice, but my parents staged an interventionand now she’s back in cardiology. What a relief,’ Brooke said sarcastically.

Her tone had shifted into something that sounded like theReal Housewives, gossipy and obsessive. She flicked her fingers at me dramatically.

‘And my younger sister, Hope, is a music prodigy. Cello and violin. She’ll be going to Juilliard in a few years.’

‘How old is she?’

‘Thirteen.’

‘And you already know she’s going to Juilliard?’

‘My parents do,’ Brooke said, with a twisted smile I didn’t think was genuine.

‘So what about you?’

A muscle in Brooke’s jaw twitched. ‘Well,’ she said, switching back into herReal Housewivesvoice. ‘Brooke was all set to join Julianne at NYU and be a doctor, but she’s recently shown a real interest in politics. And you know how much we love to encourage the girls, so it looks like she’ll be going to study at Stanford or Berkeley. A real woman-in-government triumph for the Summers.’ Her words soured at the end, turning into something awful and bitter.

‘That sounds like someone else’s idea, not yours,’ I said softly.

‘That’s because it is.’

‘They really plan everything out for you like that?’

‘Mouse, you have no idea,’ she sighed.

‘Maybe they just … care?’ I suggested.

‘I wish they wouldn’t.’

She was wrong about that, but I didn’t correct her.

‘So your older brother and sister are already in college?’ I asked instead. ‘Do you see them very often?’

‘Julianne comes home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. She stays in New York during the summer, and I usually go stay with her for a couple weeks. Daniel hardly ever comes home.’

‘You’ll be the only one staying on the west coast for college, then,’ I said, ripping apart another Twizzler, more for something to do with my hands than because I was hungry.

‘They need to keep an eye on me,’ she said darkly.

I didn’t get why. Brooke was practically the perfect daughter. She was in so many extracurricular clubs and teams, not just choir, but the debate team, soccer, the Shakespeare society, French club … all while maintaining some of the highest grades in our class.

She didn’t seem to appreciate, or even acknowledge, what she had. To have parents who cared about you so much was something I literally couldn’t get my head around, and, sure, they sounded like a lot, but I’d spent years wishing someone would care about me just a little bit. My mom was always more interested in the next guy than she was in me. She wanted to get married, to settle down and have the big, happy family that had never been possible when she was a single mom towing around a shy kid. The Creep had promised her that. He wanted a whole bunch of kids running around, and I could see the starsdancing in my mom’s eyes every time he mentioned it. He didn’t need to spell it out that having me around didn’t feature in his plans.

The music cut off with a click, and I reached for the glove box to pick the next album. I was getting good at reading Brooke’s mood and matching it to my music choices.

‘I hate this part of Idaho,’ she muttered.

‘Really?’ I thought there was something bleakly beautiful in the dirt and scrubby grass and the endless blue sky.

‘It’s depressing as hell.’

I laughed and put my feet back up on the dash. ‘Where do you want to stop tonight?’

‘Somewhere outside of Salt Lake City. It’ll get too expensive if we go into the city. It’s better to find somewhere on the outskirts.’