She shrugged. “I don’t know how it happened, but it did.”
I covered my smile with the back of my hand. “So, you—the forty-two-year-old adult—decided to get revenge on two nine-year-olds? Am I understanding this correctly?” Lukas opened his mouth to argue, but snapped it shut. “That’s what I thought.” I looked toward the girls. “We’ll talk about this later. For now, please go play. I need to talk to your uncle.”
Harper headed off to the treehouse first, but Charlie turned around and shot daggers at my brother before shouting, “Snitches get stitches. You better sleep with one eye open, Uncle Luke.”
When she turned around, Lukas looked at me with wide eyes. “What the hell are you teaching that kid?”
“Hopefully not to take any shit. I dealt with enough from you growing up.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, shaking his head. Water droplets flew everywhere.
“Oh my god, stop it,” I hissed, stepping away from him. “You’re worse than your niece.”
He winked. “Must be where she gets it from.”
God. I didn’t even want to think about the hell she’d raise as she got older. She was a handful as it was.
“Did you say hi to John?” I asked, looking toward the house. I could see movement from inside, but couldn’t tell if it was Duke or one of the nurses we had on staff.
“He was sleeping when I got here, so I decided to work out here in the meantime. Would you mind going inside and getting some towels while I make peace with your daughter? I don’t want to wake up to her standing above my bed with a knife sometime in the future.”
I looked back toward the treehouse where Charlie was still shooting daggers at Lukas. “Yeah, that might be best. She seemslike she’d play the long game. Really make you lose your mind before she attacks.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. She takes bribes.”
Lukas blew out a breath. “Why do I feel like this is going to cost me an arm and a leg?”
“Might cost you more than that,” I laughed, heading toward the house.
Duke was standing on the porch, pacing back and forth and speaking quietly on the phone to someone. When he saw me, he quickly ended his call.
“Olivia, wait,” he said, sticking his hand out so I couldn’t get inside.
Unease prickled at the back of my neck as I tried to move past him, but he wouldn’t budge. “I need to get in the house.”
Duke shook his head. “I can’t let you do that.”
I glanced past him through the open door. John’s nurse sat on the stairs, her eyes red-rimmed and glassy. I recognized the girl from school. She was a few years younger than me but had grown up in the area. We’d been grateful to hire someone from town to watch over him. Figured that might make him more comfortable on the days he woke up confused.
But I didn’t understand why she was crying. Why Duke wouldn’t let me past. There would be no reason I couldn’t go inside the house, unless…
But no. That couldn’t be. Duke and I had seen John this morning. Had talked to him only hours ago.
Duke’s gaze softened as the realization hit me. His eyes were so full of sorrow.
Of apology.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No.”
“Olivia, I?—”
“Get out of my way, Duke.” I pushed at his arm, but it was nouse. He was immovable. “Goddammit. Get out of my fucking way.” I tried again, raising my voice as I attempted to force my way through.
The nurse on the stairs began crying louder. The keening wail grated on my nerves. Why was she crying? She had no business crying. I was John’s family. His next of kin. I was the one who should have broken down in tears.
I could feel them coming, but pushed them down, down, down, until all I felt was anger.
Anger at the caretaker who’d been here when I wasn’t.
Anger at Duke for keeping me from going inside the house.