Utterly Forgettable | MM Romance | Complete

Thirty-Four: She's Not There

They'd been in the water for maybe an hour, Emma holding a cocktail glass and sporting a hat as wide as her delighted smile, while Josh made sure she wouldn't float towards the deep end, when Emery showed up at the door to the house.

Josh imagined it wasn't easy, for someone who wanted to control everything, to see his sister in such a risk-prone environment. He also knew tEmery wasn't fool enough to try to keep her confined to her bed as he'd have no doubt preferred. That was Emery's problem, not his. Josh looked away, pretending not to see him there, only to be caught in Emma's knowing gaze.

"Minion. Go talk to him."

"No, thank you."

"I'm serious. I want my dinner and my Scrabble. Tonight."

"Emma—"

"Please." She never pleaded. It was the lowest blow Josh could have been dealt. "Miss my Scrabble nights."

He nodded. He'd been hired to make her life the best it could possibly be. Being civil enough to share a meal and a board game with her brother wasn't too outrageous a request. He walked out of the pool, pulling her mattress with him until the water only reached his ankles.

"Okay, I'm going there, but I'm keeping an eye on you. If I catch you paddling towards the deep end I'm going to jump in here and drown you myself."

"Yes, minion. I'm very intimidated."

In the distance, Emery turned away. He'd been the poster child for good behavior for the past two weeks, always walking away from any situation where Josh would have been forced to interact with him.

"Emery," Josh called out, struggling to make his voice sound pleasant because Emma could hear it, "wait up!" It was the first time he had addressed Emery since that night.

When he reached the man after a short jog, Josh's jaw ached from being clenched. On the plus side, they were now outside Emma's hearing range, and too far away for her to see their faces. The initial hopeful surprise in Emery's eyes faded into shadows when he saw Josh's expression.

"Your sister has her heart set on things returning to normal. She wants us both to have dinner and play Scrabble tonight. You can do that, right? Pretend?"

"Of course," Emery replied, his tone subdued. "At 8 o'clock?"

"Yes." From the corner of his eye he saw Emma raising her cocktail glass at them. They both waved in return. "Now pretend I'm saying something funny."

Josh grimaced at whatever Emery was doing with his shoulders. It didn't look in the same zip code as laughter. "You're going to have to do better than that tonight."

"Yes. Of course. I... Thank you for doing this for her."

"That's why I'm here." Emma had laid down on her mattress, no longer openly looking at them, but Josh didn't let that fool him for a minute. There was every chance she was still watching them. "Clap me on the arm or something."

Again Emery did as instructed, stiff as a board. Dinner and Scrabble were going to be a challenge and a half. "Is she wearing sunscreen?"

"I wouldn't have brought her out here without it."

"Good. That's good."

With one last look at the water he turned to walk away; Josh took pity on him. "Come by the pool for a minute — we need the practice for tonight."