We all hid in William’s bedroom until our parents returned later that evening. Our father saw the damage and called us into the kitchen. “What the hell happened to the railing?”

William replied with his head down. “Anna got stuck. We couldn’t get her out.”

My mother was standing at the kitchen counter with her back to us, cigarette in her mouth, working a mound of red clay that sat on a pile of old newspaper.

“Why didn’t you call Mr. Butler? I told you, if there’s ever an emergency to call next door. The goddamn number is right here.” Our father jabbed at a piece of paper stuck to the fridge, a phone number scribbled in his illegible handwriting.

“She was scared.” William’s voice was small, barely audible. “I didn’t know what to do.”

“Do you think money grows on trees? Who’s going to pay to fix it, huh? Do you have a secret job I don’t know about?”

I stared at the floor, counting the floorboards in my head.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen—

“Go to your rooms, all of you. I don’t want to look at you.”

My mother didn’t even turn around.

Chapter 16

“I need attention,” I called into the empty hallway.

I was sprawled out on the sofa, wearing nothing but a baby-blue silk chemise. I clutched a half-empty wineglass by its stem, swirling it in small circles. I watched the liquid rise and fall, waiting.

The wind outside was fierce. The trees shook with a veracity that paired well with my unsteady and desperate need for adoration. It felt so much a part of me that, for a moment, I wondered if I was the creator of the wind. “Jack!” I whined.

Jack appeared from the kitchen, carrying a platter of cheeses and cured meats. Placing it on the coffee table, he tilted his head, looking me up and down. “Babygirl.”

“I need attention,” I repeated, rolling into my side. My hair fell into my eyes but I didn’t brush it away.

Moving toward me, he knelt in the space between the coffee table and sofa, tucking the unruly hair behind my ear. “Look at you. My little blue princess.”

He ran the tips of his fingers along my bare toes. “Okay, tell me where it hurts.”

I let my head hang off the edge of the couch, observing him upside-down, his fingers still on my thigh. “Everywhere.”

Jack chewed his bottom lip and when he released it, the pink skin remained white for a second. “Well, we’re going to have to do something about that.”

He touched my ankle, smiling the way he often did where his teeth were exposed but the corner of his mouth remained slightly lowered. “Here?”

I nodded, pouting.

He kissed my ankle tenderly.

Dragging his fingers to my knee, he glanced at my face, his eyebrows lifted. “Here?”

I bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from smiling. “Mhm.”