“I mean Sang’s dad.”
“He was working, last I checked,” Victor said.
“On what?” Gabriel asked. He caught me looking at him. His crystal eyes lightened, but just a little. “On a weekend?”
“Filling in reports,” Victor said, and then pointed to Luke. “Check his screen. It should be...” Victor hovered over the keyboard, using the mouse pad to click on an icon.
A screen popped up, showing a computer screen, and some sort of electrical technical document. Words were being filled into brackets, then a short pause, followed by another bracket being highlighted and filled in.
It was familiar to me. The usual things he did for work.
Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “I don’t understand all this. Isn’t he at all worried?”
Victor squinted at the screen of the laptop, frowning. “Has he been at this all day?”
“And yesterday,” Luke said. “I mean around dinner and other things, he was sitting and working at the computer.”
Victor tilted his head, continuing to study the electrical schematics. After a moment, he stood up again and refocused on the tablet. “Remind me to look into his work records.”
I wasn’t totally sure how that would help. I glanced at the rest of them, quiet and without response.
He was relaxed enough to do work. Should we be worried about that?
The bedroom door opened silently. Victor was in the way, so I couldn’t see who it was immediately, only the door moving behind him. I leaned over so I could see, ready for North checking in. The others redirected their attention when they noticed me looking.
Mr. Blackbourne stood in the doorway. He’d replaced his usual suit jacket with a gray sweater. The maroon tie was tucked under it, along with the white shirt. The effect was that he appeared younger, more like his twenty-year-old self.
His perfection electrified a reaction in me to sit up, but this wasn’t easy on the waterbed. I smoothed my clothes out as best I could for pajamas.
His steel eyes behind the dark glasses were wide, aware. He glanced quickly around the room, taking stock of us along with the equipment. The room seemed smaller with all of us in here. He closed the door behind himself. When he spoke, it was the same crystal-sharp command as ever, but in hushed tones. “I’m aware of where everyone is,” he said. “Catch me up on anything urgent.”
I checked in with the others, unsure where to start, but ultimately it was Victor who spoke. “Mostly calm. Carol’s cleaning. Jimmy’s playing basketball. Her father is doing work at the computer.” He paused and then lifted the tablet he was holding. “I was thinking we could get a ‘security trailer’”—he made air quotes with one hand—“for the diner. It would be inconspicuous, and close enough she could get to it via the woods.”
Victor passed along the tablet. Mr. Blackbourne scrolled through whatever he’d been looking at and then nodded. “That solves one problem.” He tapped at the screen a few times and passed it back. “Get this one. I want it installed today if possible. If not, get the closest one like it that can be done today.” He turned his attention to Luke. “Run over and talk to your uncle. Prepare a location. You’ll need to be on site to sign for everything as it arrives. Get Silas to review the installation. We want electrical and water online by this evening.”
“On it,” Luke said, hopping off the bed. He secured his phone, buttoned up the last of the buttons on his shirt, and hurried into the house.
Once he was out of the room, Mr. Blackbourne turned to Gabriel. “The one I picked out has a bathroom and a closet. Start prepping to move basic clothing and supplies. Prepare a list for everyone, including Miss Sorenson. Space will be limited. Bring essentials, including the usual safety kits and air mattresses for overnight if needed.”
Gabriel rolled off the bed and crossed the room, heading for the door. “I’ll need to work from Kota’s house first. Everything here is in Nathan’s room.”
“Don’t plan to move any of it until this evening,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “Best to do it after dark, but I want it ready to go. Be careful not to be noticed walking across the street.”
Gabriel glanced back once at me, tugging his fingers into the knot of his tie and loosening it. He headed out. The garage door opened, closing again shortly after.
Victor tapped at the tablet and then pulled out an iPhone. This one had a similar case to the one I carried. He’d already replaced his phone with another to allow me to keep his. “I need to call this place directly to be able to place an order.” He headed for the sliding door that led to the back porch. “Give me a few minutes.” He stepped outside, just out of view. I could hear him talking after a minute, although his voice was too faint now to understand what he was saying.
The upheaval of everyone leaving the room at once wasn’t totally a surprise to me, but now I was left alone with Mr. Blackbourne. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but I again felt the need to sit up and was completely aware of my clothes and hair. Only this time, with the bed the way it was, I was leaning off the edge whenever I tried to adjust anything. I found it easier to get up on my knees to sit.
His demeanor was intense, but his voice softened. “Miss Sorenson.”
My lips twitched, wanting to smile that he was using what I now thought of as our greeting, but not wanting to make him think I was teasing him. “Mr. Blackbourne,” I said quietly.
He skirted around the bed and stood beside me. He sat down gently, allowing the air pocket to adjust so I wouldn’t get bounced around. He stretched a hand out to push slightly at the top of the bed, making it a little less lopsided. “Turn the laptop this direction?” he asked.
I turned it so we could both watch the screens and he could reach the keyboard if he wanted to.
He watched for a moment, with Carol cleaning and my father doing work, and the shot of the boys, through the garage, playing basketball. The game had gotten intense. Shirts had been removed.
I counted four male bodies and realized someone had joined them. I couldn’t see the face, but I thought it might be Derrick.
I wondered how dangerous it was to include him. He knew about the Academy. Would he tell Jimmy about it? Where was Danielle?
I considered the neighbors. My stepmother would never have stepped out of the house to talk to any of them. Would any of them come over to greet Carol? Would she want to meet neighbors?
What would they say they noticed about my house? About Kota and the others?
Mr. Blackbourne watched for a minute and then spoke. “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.
“Better,” I said. I meant to add “than yesterday,” but once I paused, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was true. I thought of everything that had happened in the last couple of days: the colossal fool I’d made of myself at camp with the Academy council, fainting in the shower, Kota’s discovery of the plan and the reaction of the entire group as they discussed it, the discovery of Carol and Jimmy.
It had happened, and I was processing it all, yet I felt the calm we were in now to be too calm. My nerves were electrified. I was paralyzed and unable to figure out what I should be doing.
I was self-conscious about yesterday, too. I’d run into him in the woods, a sobbing mess, explaining to him how uncomfortable I was at being around the other girl team.
The last time I had really seen him, he’d led me to his tent and had me sleep in his cot.
Instead of coming back to sleep nearby, he’d sent Gabriel to stay with me. Since then, so much had happened. It seemed every time I was around him lately, I was in embarrassing situations.
When he continued to gaze at my direction and I hadn’t spoken, I got the feeling he was being quiet for me. He wanted to hear more.
Breathing in deeply helped me gain a little courage, but in doing so, I took in much more of the spring soap scent he carried. “There’s a lot going on,” I said. “I don’t know where to start.”
There was the slightest incline of his head. He gently slid the laptop over until he co
uld scoot a little closer to me, close enough that his thigh brushed up against my leg bent in front of me. He motioned to the notebook I’d been doodling on. “Will you hand that to me, please?”
I did, along with the pen. He glanced over my doodling, then turned to a fresh page and held the pen to the paper.
Behind my leg, I tugged at a loose piece of fabric of my pajama pants absently, waiting for him.
He gazed at me, part of the steel softening. There was a small reflection of the computer screen in his glasses, giving his eyes a glow. “Why don’t we start by writing down the things we’re thinking about? It’ll help us to focus a little.”
The way he spoke quelled my nervousness around him, like it was our problem together, not just mine. “Focus is good,” I said quietly.
He started to write a few things: results from blood work, returning to healthier eating, resting.
Afterwards, he passed the notebook to me. “Don’t think about if it’s important or not. Just write down everything on your mind.”
I took the pen from him, feeling the warmth his fingers had left on the plastic. I stared at what he’d written, considering what to put down. Where did I start?
He reached out to me, covering my arm with a hand and redirecting my attention. “Don’t think of if you should, just write it down. Anything that comes to mind.”
I nodded and tried to go over the most immediate things: Finding out how much Carol knew, discovering my father’s point of view of the situation, checking in with my stepmother, finding out what Marie had told everyone. The school, what was going on there?
Academy tryouts.
Going to talk to Lily with Kota.
I blushed while writing the next part: asking everyone how they feel.
It was an ambiguous entry for the list I was making, but I knew exactly what I meant. I wanted to ask Kota and the others directly about how they felt and what they were thinking about the plan. I needed to know.
After that, I quickly went through other things on my mind.
Once I was at a point where I couldn’t think to add any more, Mr. Blackbourne gazed at my list upside down. “Finished?”
“I think so.”
He offered his hand, palm open, and at first I thought he wanted my hand, but his gaze stayed on the notebook. I passed it to him.
The sliding door opened, Victor leaned in, phone to his ear and checked in with Mr. Blackbourne. “Do we care about color?”
“Same shade as the diner,” Mr. Blackbourne said without looking up. “We want people to ignore it. If they don’t have it, we’ll paint it.”
Victor spoke into the phone. “Does it come in blue?” He shut the door and his voice was muffled again as he stepped away.
I looked at the door, only hearing Victor’s voice but not really what he was saying. They were buying something that sounded so expensive...so I’d have a place to retreat to safely, and they could stay nearby. Just because Jimmy had come by today.
It sounded like a lot to do just for me.
Were we going to be able to keep up?
Mr. Blackbourne proceeded to go over the list. He tore the page out of the notebook, setting it aside on the bed. He kept the notebook and then spoke to me. “Tell me the top three most urgent things on this list.”
I stared blankly at the page. There were many items, and they all seemed important. How was I supposed to choose?
He waited and then used the pen against the original list. “If you need help, I could cross off the things that don’t need attention right now.”
I eagerly nodded.
He started by pointing the pen at each thing. “Academy tryouts,” he said and then marked an X near it. “They won’t prepare anything like that until we’ve told them you’re ready for it. We’re busy right now. This can wait.”
Would they disqualify me because I was inconvenient? Yet Mr. Blackbourne had always been adamant about me joining the Academy in the first place. I imagined if he said it could wait, then it could.
There was a small section about the school, Mr. Hendricks and even Volto. He boxed those together and he put an X near the box. “Important. Not critical. There’s a time and place for this. Now is not it.”
He continued down the list, showing me what he marked off, checking my reaction. Most of the things I’d considered to be on my mind, he calmed me by suggesting I should think about it later, or it wasn’t important, or it was something they were working on but that didn’t require my attention.
It was the way he worked over the list that I was drawn to. He studied it, considered every thought I had very carefully and didn’t make me feel silly about any of it. He simply put my mind at ease.
There were a few items on the page that he starred. Joining the Academy. He pointed to that line. “This is a goal, and it is important to you in the long run. It isn’t in our control at this time, though. We’ll keep it in mind, but there’s nothing actionable here.”
He hesitated over the line about asking everyone how they felt. He read it, seemed ready to mark an X next to it and then paused. “I assumed this was asking Marie or Carol how they feel, but I don’t think that’s what you meant.”
I adjusted how I was sitting, pulling my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs to hug them close to me. The headboard provided support. “Dr. Green said I shouldn’t worry about how the guys feel...that I should ask them.” My cheeks heated so much, and I felt the same warmth traveling down my neck, spreading everywhere. “I’m not sure if it is really important, though.”
He hesitated, hovering the pen over the list I’d made. I waited for him to make an X.
Instead, he redirected the pen to the clean sheet of paper.
He wrote down a numeral one, and next to it, he added: Taking time to ask everyone how they feel.
“We’ll go over this in a minute,” he said quietly. “Let’s focus on the rest.”
By the end, he’d only added two more items to the fresh sheet of paper: ensuring a regular schedule out of the house, and figuring out how to get Carol’s approval to go to a private school.
“Your father, we already know, wishes to send you and your sister to a private school,” Mr. Blackbourne said. This was third on the list of items, but he started with it. “This is a long-term goal we all share at the moment.”
I sighed softly in reaction to “long-term.” I hadn’t meant to be so obvious, or to sound rude, and I immediately clamped my hand over my mouth sheepishly.
He raised an eyebrow, with a steel glint in his eyes. “You disapprove?”
I lowered my hand shortly to speak. “I just wish it wouldn’t take too long,” I said quickly and then covered my mouth again.
He put the notebook down in his lap and focused on me with that intense gaze, no other expression on his face. My heart went wild. I wasn’t sure if he was displeased.
“What if it does?” he asked in a soft tone.
The question froze my brain the moment he asked it. I stared at him and then lowered my eyes to the maroon tie, the knot at his neck.
What if it did? What if it took two years? Or even longer?
What if I was stuck in that house forever?
The worst thoughts trampled through my brain.
He recoiled for a moment and then shook it off. He reached for me, quickly collecting my chin in his fingers and drawing me out of my deep thoughts.
His gaze turned more silver, his lips tilting down at the edges.
“What I meant was, if it takes a month, will you give up?”
Give up? Did he mean stay with Carol? Or simply walk out of the house recklessly? I blinked, shaking my head slowly against his fingers.
He held on for only a second before releasing me, but he leaned in a little closer until his chest was an inch from my knees that were drawn up between us. “If it takes two, will you want to stop and give up?”
“No,” I said quietly, although I wasn’t sure I meant it. However, when I thought abo
ut it, what was the alternative? Breaking down and storming out? That could result in explosions for the guys, not just myself. As much as I wanted to hurry things along, did I really want to risk everything?
“Then how long it takes only matters when you want to give in,” he said quietly. He motioned to the original list, the important things I’d written down. “You have a lot of goals, and a lot you want to get started on. I understand you don’t want to be in that house. No one wants you to be there. Not you. Not us. Not your father. Or even Carol.”
“You don’t think she likes me?” I asked.
He shook his head slowly. “You’re not her priority. Securing herself, her son, that’s what’s important to her. You and your sister were in the way, so she came to change that. She didn’t do it slowly, introduce herself, or ask anyone for permission. She just stepped in when she saw an opportunity.” He lowered his tone, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t mistake her offer for harmony for being on the same page with what you want.”
That confirmed my own thoughts on Carol, the doubts I’d had about her, yet I still hesitated. She was innocent, a normal person, so I didn’t wish her harm, but I couldn’t really pretend she thought she was doing the best for me.
He took up the notebook again and jotted down a few things underneath that first topic. As he wrote, he spoke, but not on what he was writing about. How he could do both at the same time amazed me. “Fortunately, her goals may give us the opportunity we were looking for. Before you can leave, we’ll have to secure a few things. First, she’s seeking divorce. With an Academy lawyer, one that we will be providing, she’ll get what she’s asking for.”
“She’s the one making calls? I thought she was getting him to do it.”
“She left messages a couple of days ago. She’s not leaving it to him alone.”
I frowned. To get what she wanted, she was willing to go around my father? I couldn’t tell him this without him wondering how I knew, and I doubted he’d believe me.
He continued, “It’s unlikely she’ll get an immediate response, and she knows it. This is probably why she seems to be focusing only on cleaning. Most likely on Monday, she’ll begin more calls. She’ll be redirected to the right people.”