Page 164 of These Summer Storms

“You know”—he met her eyes—“I don’t know that anyone in this family has ever said that to me.”

She tilted her head. “Maybe we should start.”

“Yeah, I don’t know. It’s kind of unsettling,” he replied before turning to Larry, who’d reached the top of the steps. “Hey, Larry, couldn’t get enough of us at the funeral?”

Larry didn’t blink, but it wasn’t a very good joke. “Hi, kids. Where are your sisters?”

Before any of them could answer, the roar of helicopter engines sounded. Everyone turned to look as the Leonardo Tony had flown in not thirty minutes earlier passed, loud and low enough to reveal Greta in the copilot seat, headset on, waving out the window like she was on the greatest vacation she’d ever taken, looking into the mouth of a volcano from a safe, luxurious distance.

She probably was, honestly. But good for her for getting out. If anyone deserved it, it was Greta.

Alice waved back, full of joy for her sister, who’d just gotten her happily-ever-after. Sam said what they were all thinking. “She actually did it. She actually left.”

It was incredible. Liberation at its finest.

“Was that Greta?” came a shout from the distance. Emily and Claudia, crossing the lawn from the southern tip of the island. Emily withan enormous smile on her face. “Holy shit!” she shouted. “Did she just leave?”

“With Tony!” Alice shouted back.

“Holy shit!” Emily repeated, before she realized that Larry was there. “Sorry, Larry. That’s just very cool!”

Larry raised a hand in quiet acknowledgment that it was, in fact, very cool.

“Are we late?” Emily asked. “We were meditating.”

“You’re not late,” Larry said, leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Hi, Claudia.”

“We’re just waiting for Larry to tell us what we’ve won,” Sam said.

Understanding dawned on the youngest Storm’s face. “So, this is it? This is the inheritance meeting? Do we need Mom?”

They looked to the house, big and gothic, on the hill, and Alice imagined Elisabeth was there, in one of the upper windows, watching. Waiting for whatever was to come, suffering from no small amount of regret after the events of the night before.

“Not for this,” Larry replied, clearing his throat. “I’ll speak to her separately.”

“Should you go inside?” Claudia asked, indicating the house.

“No,” Alice said, firmly, surprising everyone. “I think we should do it out here. In the sun. It will be—I don’t know—cleansing.”

“Careful,” Sam said. “You’re starting to sound like Emily.”

Alice ignored him. “Also,Larry looks like he might have a heart attack if we make him wait any longer to tell us the bad news.”

A beat, and then Sam said, full of understanding, “Oh, shit.”

Another throat clearing. “Kids—”

“Larry,” Alice interrupted with a smile. “We’ve all been around our dad long enough that we know he had no intention of making this easy for anyone. So let us make your part a little easier.”

“Exactly,” Sam said. “Cut to the chase. What do we get?”

It wasn’t quite the phrasing Alice would have used, but it got the job done.

“Well, kids. It’s not quite so simple.”

Silence met the reply, everything slowing down as they took in what Larry had said. And then, as they processed the strange, unexpected words, everyone spoke.

“Thereismoney, isn’t there?” Sam said.