“Sure, okay,” Alex said, running his hands through his hair. “So, are we all done here? Because I don’t really need to have one of these weird conversations right now.”
“What weird conversations? Who are you having weird conversations with?”
Therese looked at him sincerely. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
“Did you have something you wanted to talk to me about?”
Alex wasn’t sure whether he was demanding or begging. Therese tilted her head to look at him over the top of her glasses again, and then smiled, and she didn’t seem all that different from Emily after all, for a moment, and Alex wondered why in the world she kept her golden hair tied back that way.
“It probably seems like I give her a pretty hard time, right? And I do,” Therese said, her elbows resting on the iron railing, her smile a little sad. “I do give her a hard time, because the world is always going to be hard on my poor little sister. She got a bad hand, right from the start, and there’s never been anything I could do about that. I’ve tried to make her as tough as possible, because I can’t make her life any easier.”
Therese paused for a while, and Alex let the silence be, not only because he couldn’t think of anything worth saying.
“Did you ever date a girl with a big brother, Alex?” Therese asked, not waiting for a response, sparing Alex the embarrassment of admitting that he hadn’t dated anyone, ever. “Emily doesn’t have a big brother. All she has is me. And normally, I would be doing the big brother thing right now to the boy she brought home from school. Do you know why I’m not doing that, Alex?”
Alex shook his head, too confused to try and guess.
“Because I got a call a few weeks ago from my father, who was extremely excited at his tremendous luck regarding his most disappointing daughter.” Alex was starting to realize that though Therese seemed calm, that she was actually quite possibly angry, something he didn’t particularly want to experience firsthand. “Never mind that it’s my baby sister, because I work for the cartel and it’s all about what the cartel wants. So I can’t be the big brother, and tell you to keep your hands off her.”
“Because it’s in the cartel’s best interest?”
“For all I know it might be in Emily’s best interest. Lord knows that nothing I’ve done or will ever do has made things much easier on her.” Therese looked gloomy. “So father says that I have to be nice to you, and stay out of Emily’s way. Actually, when he finds out that I came home anyway tonight, he’s going to be furious.”
“I kinda wondered if you did that on purpose,” Alex admitted. “Did you leave stuff all over the place to upset her?”
Therese laughed unexpectedly. When she laughed, Alex noted, she looked even more like Emily, but not nearly as reserved. Therese was prim and serious, Alex realized, but also much less timid than her younger sister.
“No, I’m just a slob,” Therese said, wiping her eyes and then replacing her glasses. “But you’re a funny guy. Let me say this,” she said, flicking the remainder of her cigarette onto the slate grey road below. “I hope that you can help my sister, and I hope that you join the Raleigh Cartel, I really do. And I promise that if you decide to do that, you will find yourself enthusiastically welcomed by everyone, myself included. But until that point, Alex, you had better be nice to my sister. And, if you decide you don’t like her, then you better make that very clear. Because if you string her along, well, I can and will make your life miserable. Do you believe me?”
Alex stuck with nodding. It seemed like the fastest way to put an end to the conversation.
“Okay, then,” she said, brushing past him on her way back into the house. “Let’s find out what we’re eating.”
Sure enough, Therese stayed and ate, ignoring the icy stares that Emily aimed in her direction, chatting away casually and not seeming to particularly care that neither Alex nor Emily had much to say in return. The meal was excellent, and Alex was particularly surprised at the pan-fried fish, not something he normally ate, which was moist and delicious and not at all, well, fishy, but the atmosphere left something to be desired. When Therese put her napkin on the table and made to leave, Alex practically wanted to embrace her in gratitude, but to his surprise, Emily grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the kitchen.
“Therese, help me with the dishes before you go,” Emily said, her grip on her sister’s forearm tightening.
“Aw,” Therese moaned, collecting the plates and then shuffling half-heartedly after Emily into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her. Alex wasn’t certain what was said in the moments that followed, because someone had turned the kitchen sink on full blast before the conversation started, but from the tone of the voice, he guessed that there was some disagreement. He stared into his empty wine glass as heated voices turned to shouting, and then eventually escalated to what sounded like dishes breaking on the tiled floor. Alex thought about getting up and going to check on the girls, maybe try and broker some kind of peace, but then his sense of self-preservation kicked in, and he decided to remain where he was.
Alex jumped in his seat when the kitchen door swung opened and Therese stalked out.
“Why do you have to ruin everything?”
Emily’s shriek came from somewhere inside the kitchen, her voice full of tears.
Therese winced and quickly shut the door behind her, then leaned against it, taking a deep breath and then giving Alex a shaky smile.
“Alright, I’m off for the evening. It was nice meeting you, Alex. I’m sure that I will be seeing you around Central.”
“Right,” Alex said, half-standing up from the table. “Uh, do you think I should…?”
Therese waved him off, wedging her feet into the shoes she’d discarded by the front door and collecting her purse.
“Don’t worry about it. She’ll feel better as soon as I’m gone,” Therese said curtly, as she reached for the door. “You think about what I said.”
She shot him a warning glare as she closed the door behind her. Alex decided not to notice that she was crying. He sat quietly at the table for a while, and then when nothing happened, he decided to clear the rest of the table. Alex entered the kitchen cautiously, his hands filled with glasses and silverware.
“Emily, are you okay?”
He eyed Emily carefully as he entered the kitchen, ready to turn around if she was still a mess. She was crouching down with a broom and tray, sweeping up the remains of what looked to be a broken plate, her face streaked with tears and her makeup smudged. She smiled thinly at Alex and nodded, then returned to sweeping. He suppressed an urge to give her a hug, and headed to the sink instead.
He rinsed off the dishes methodically, trying to give her time to compose herself. It felt a bit strange to him, being back in a kitchen. Even though it had only been a few weeks, he had gotten used to having access the cafeteria. Of course, he’d never cooked for himself as much as he had warmed food in a microwave, and there was a certain familiarity with the institutional feeding scheme.
“Dinner was good,” Alex said, keeping his attention on the dishes in the sink. “Those little potato things…”
“Fingerling?” Emily offered, sniffling.
“Right, the fingerling potatoes were great, and the fish was, um, very… great. Also.”
Alex heard Emily’s muffled laughter from behind him and felt a little bit better about the situation. Watching her cry made him feel weirdly helpless.
“Did she tell you things about me? Was she at least nice to you?”
“Who’s that? Your sister?”
Alex glanced over his shoulder at Emily, who appeared to be more in control, though he had a feeling that the wrong answer could well prompt another crying binge, if he wasn’t careful.
“She was pretty nice, yeah, in a weird sort of way. She was way harder on you than she was on me. We didn’t talk about anything in particular — I think she’s just being protective of you.”
Emily smiled half-heartedly, picking up a drying cloth and starting work on the dishes that Alex had finished cleaning.
“She seems to think I’m in imminent danger of having my virtue compromised,” Emily said, a tad bitterly, “if I’m left alone with you. That is a bit unexpected.”
“Oh?”
Alex tried not to get his hopes up.
