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Reaching over, she squeezed his forearm. “Everything’s going to be okay,” she murmured, then spoke up for the sake of their parents. “We’d better go. Jack’s worked hard all day. He’s got to be tired.”
“We’re heading to bed, too,” Buzz said.
“Good night,” Ismay said, but her mother caught her before she could hang up.
“Ismay?”
“What?”
“Remy’s brother sure seems like a great guy. It’s a relief to know you’re in good hands.”
Ismay moved her purse from her lap to the floor of the passenger side. “What’d you say?”
“I said I like Bastian. It was considerate of him to call and assure us that he’s looking out for you.”
“Bastian calledyou? How? When?”
Her mother sounded confused when she responded. “It was just this morning. I—I thought you’d given him our number.”
“No, I... Why would he feel the need to callyou?”
“I don’t know, but it was very thoughtful.”
“What’d he say, exactly?”
“Just that he could tell we raised you right, that you’re a very nice girl, and it must be hard having you so far from home. He wanted to assure us that he’s looking out for you while you’re there.”
“Why would I need someone to look out for me?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” her father responded. “Why would it hurt?”
Ismay began to rub her forehead. She couldn’t really fault Bastian for what he’d done. She supposed, on the face of it, his call was polite. And yet...like so many other things about him, it was odd.
“He’s...different,” she said.
“In what way?” Betty asked. “Because he seemed perfectly genuine to us. To be honest, we wish...”
“What?” Ismay prodded when her words fell off.
“We wish Remy would show a little interest in us. We’ve never even spoken to him, so imagine our surprise to hear from his twin brother!” her mother finished.
Ismay had made many excuses for the fact that Remy seemed so indifferent toward her family. She’d be grateful if she didn’t have to deal with his brother, so maybe she was just as bad. But at least she’d met Bastian before making that determination.
“Aren’t you glad he’s there?” her father asked.
She remembered her doorknob jiggling in the middle of the night and the fear that’d welled up. She wasn’t glad Bastian was there. She’d felt much saferbeforehe arrived.
Bo never thought he’d have to sneak out of his own bungalow, but Ismay had texted him to see if he’d meet her on the beach, and he didn’t want Jack to know he was leaving the house. Jack probably wouldn’t care; he wasn’t intrusive like that. But it was late enough that Bo knew Ismay’s brother would wonder where he could be going. If he was careful, Jack wouldn’t even have to know he’d left.
The front door clicked as he shut it behind him, so he waited a few seconds to see if any of the lights went on. When they didn’t, he decided he was in the clear and hurried down the walkway before circling around the cottage to the beach.
Ismay was already there, sitting on the soft sand with the wind ruffling her hair as she stared out to sea. Hearing him approach, she looked over and scrambled to her feet.
“That girl in the picture died in a house fire?” she said.
“Apparently.” Finally able to show her the article Honey had given him, he pulled it from his pocket and turned on his phone’s flashlight.
“What do you think?” he asked when he could tell she was getting to the end. “Did you see the picture?”
