How could things have changed that much since I left for college?
A tear falls from Mom’s eye and I walk over, wrapping my arms around her in a hug.
“Hey. It’s going to be okay. I’ll go talk to her.”
“There’s no talking to Em right now,” Dad says. “Apparently Cheyenne slipped a bottle of vodka from her grandmother’s house, and…”
“Oliver.”
I turn and see Niko in the archway that leads to the kitchen.
He’s put on black sweatpants and a crisp white hoodie, and he frowns at me, his hair still in a messy swoop from sleep.
He looks perfect.
And I don’t want him to be bothered by any of this.
“I’m sorry, Niko. It’s my sister. You can go back upstairs.”
“Is Emily okay?”
“Teenage woes,” my dad says, trying to offer Niko a polite smile.
The backyard door swings open again a moment later and Emily steps inside.
My stomach drops when I see her. Her black eye makeup is running in rivulets down her cheeks. There are scratches along her arm.
And she has a cigarette in one hand, bringing it to her lips to take a drag as she walks into the kitchen.
“Get that out of the house. Are you out of your mind, Emily?” Dad says, standing up and walking over to her.
“Ask me if I fucking care,” she says, slurring her words.
“Em,” I say softly. “Christ. Come with me.”
I walk over toward the living room and grab a blanket, heading back over to the kitchen. It smells like smoke in here now, and I pull the cigarette from her hand and toss it into the sink. I wrap the blanket around her shoulders as she protests.
“And here’s Ollie,” she says in a low tone. “Back home just in time to see us fuckingfalling apart.You going to tell him, Mom? Or should I?”
“Emily, please,” Mom says.
“They’re going to get divorced,” Emily says, a wild lookin her eyes. “They hate each other. And they certainly don’t give a damn about us.”
“Come outside with me,” I demand, pulling her back over toward the door and shoving it open.
As we step outside, Niko follows.
Emily looks at Niko with a bitter expression on her face.
“Really nice to meet you today, Niko. Welcome to our shitshow.”
Niko gently closes the back door behind him.
Out here, the air is freezing. The wall lamp beside the back door is the only light outside, and Emily stands with the blanket wrapped around her, reaching down to her pocket and pulling out a pack of Marlboro Lights.
I snap the pack out of her hands before she can stop me. I toss it over into the lawn trash bin and she pretends not to care, looking out toward the cluster of trees that line the back edge of our big yard.
My head is swimming.