Page 16 of Empty Net

I settle onto a bench tucked back into a corner, as far away from the party’s noise as possible, and hit the video call iconbefore taking another sip of my vodka soda. My mother’s face fills the screen almost instantly, and I grin.

“Hey, Mama.”

“Don’t youHey, Mamame, Arthur Francis Fox.” Her eyes are narrowed. “You’re late.”

“I’m sorry. I got distracted.”

She titters, setting the phone down, propping it against something. My father comes into the frame, a cigar unsurprisingly hanging from his lips. It’s the only time of year my mother allows him to smoke it without complaint from her. Dad shuffles cards in his hands, then sends me a cheerful grin, his cheeks flushed from the spiked eggnog I know he’s been drinking all night.

“My boy!” he says boisterously. “Happy New Year, kid.”

“Thanks, Dad. How’s the game going? You winning?”

“Oh, I’m swindling the shit out of these suckers.”

His friends—Bart, Tony, and Chris, from the sounds of it—start cussing at him in unison, and all my dad does is laugh, his round belly shaking from the movement.

“You’re keeping them in check, right, Mama?”

She rolls her eyes at their antics. “Someone has to.”

This is their yearly tradition—poker, cigars, booze, and food with friends. I have no doubt my brother and sister are there, likely setting off fireworks as usual. It’s the same thing they’ve been doing as long as I can remember, and a part of me wishes I were there to partake in all the fun.

“Is that my big brother I hear?”

My younger brother, Russ, pops into view, and his twin, Regan, is right behind him.

“Hey, guys,” I say, grinning at them. I didn’t spend nearly as much time with them when I was home as I would have liked, and fuck, I miss them.

“Artie!” Regan practically screams my nickname, tugging someone into view. “Oh my god. You can finally meet Dina!”

“Hi, Dina,” I say to the blonde woman staring at my sister like she hung the moon.

“Nice to meet you,” she says quietly, and I laugh.

Regan is the loudest person I’ve ever met—including Lawson—and it’s hilarious that she’s dating someone so clearly bashful.

“Where are the kids?” I ask Russ, hoping to say hi to my niece and nephew.

“Molly has them tonight.” He married his high school sweetheart when he was twenty-one, then two kids later, they divorced after growing apart. Luckily for Russ and the kids, they remained good friends. “But Katie is around here somewhere,” he says of his new girlfriend, who I met when I was home for Christmas.

“Okay, bye! We’re going back to blowing stuff up!” Regan shouts as if being across the country means she needs to yell.

I bid my siblings goodbye as they run off to have the fun I wish I were having.

“Speaking of girlfriends…” Mama grins, and I already know what’s coming next. “Anyone new in your life, sweetie?”

A pair of red-rimmed cobalt eyes pops into my mind, and for the hundredth time tonight, I wonder where Lilah has run off to. I haven’t seen her since she disappeared, and I scanned the crowd far more times than I’d like to admit before I came out here. Still, she’s nowhere to be found.

“Ooh, you have a look. Did you meet someone?”

I snap my attention back to my phone. “Huh? No, Mama, nothing has changed since you saw me last week.”

“Just making sure you didn’t go and fall in love and forget to tell me about it.”

“In a week?”

She shrugs. “When you know, you know.”

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