I need to know if my sister is with you. Yes, Marcus said. She's here. A silence. Precise and loaded.
Since when? Since last night. The road at Miller's Bend flooded. Her car went in the ditch. She came here.
She came to you. She needed somewhere safe. The flood made the road impassible. Another silence. Is she all right?
She's fine. Cut on her ankle. Nothing serious. I'd like to speak with her. Marcus looked at Clare.
Clare shook her head once. She's not available right now," Marcus said. The silence that followed was the longest one yet. When Vanessa spoke again, the smooth composure had developed a hairline crack, not wide enough to call emotion, just enough to let something cold through. Marcus, whatever is happening there, I want you to that this is not a situation where any of us benefit from things becoming complicated, noted.
Marcus said, "I'm serious. I know you are, Vanessa. Clare is she stopped. Started again. Clare makes decisions when she's emotional that she doesn't always think through clearly.
She needs to come home. Marcus looked at Clare, standing 2 ft away, watching him with the river behind her and the morning wind in her hair and an expression of absolute steady calm. "I'll let her know you called," he said, and he hung up. Clare looked at him. Then she looked at the phone.
Then she looked at him again. She said, "I make decisions when I'm emotional that I don't think through clearly." Marcus said, "What did you tell her?" That I'd let you know, she called. Something moved across Clare's face.
Not quite triumph. Not quite relief. More like the feeling you get when you've been bracing for an impact. And it lands softer than expected. "She's going to call my father," Clare said.
"Probably." My father is going to call you. Probably. And when he does, he's going to be very formal and very controlled. And he's going to say something that sounds civil, but means that you have no business being within 50 ft of his daughter.
Marcus put his phone back in his pocket. And I'll tell him the same thing I told Vanessa. The road flooded. You needed somewhere to be. The right thing was to take you in.