Page 60 of Torch Songs

“Well, actually, sir—are you her brother?”

“No, ma’am, I am a friend of the family. You and I spoke on the phone yesterday, and I told you April would be arriving this afternoon.”

“And I’m afraid that’s too late,” she said. “Your friend left the home without permission, and she didn’t return when requested. She’s been exited from the program, and as you know, programs like this are hard to come by. Her room and her spot have been filled. I’ve got our maintenance man, Griff, clearing out her room now.” She gave a catlike smile. “He makes more than a cup of coffee.”

Guthrie’s breath caught at the absolute casualness of her cruelty, and then his vision went red and he didn’t remember much after that until he and April were throwing her hastily boxed things into the back of his pickup and they were well on the road to San Rafael.

“DEAR GOD,”April said for about the fiftieth time.

“I’m sorry about that,” Guthrie said blankly, his mind swimming.

“I’ve never heard anybody talk to her that way,” she said, and he grimaced.

“I was raised better than that,” he apologized humbly, although it wasn’t strictly true. As heaven was his witness, he didn’t remember a word that came out of his mouth after Callie Leonard talked about a cup of coffee, but April had been right outside the door, and apparently she rememberedallthe words.

“You said you’d use her ass as a spear sharpener to hone the weapon you’d give God to thrust into her cold dead heart,” April said, and there was a healthy dollop of unholy glee in her usually restrained tones. “I thought she was going to bleed out her eyeballs!”

“Honey, she was screwing you over in the worst way,” Guthrie told her, still outraged. “Half the musicians I’ve known have been to rehab. Most of those places have a three-strikes policy, and this wasn’t a strike. This wasn’t even a foul. This was hardly a fucking swing.”

“But… but you told heroff,” April said again. “My brotherhatesthat woman.Loathesher. And he’s been trying so hard to be sweet to her, and you… you… you’reamazing.”

Oh hell, this felt like a teachable moment right here. “Well, your brother’s way is probably better,” he said. For one thing, her brother could have gotten the lazy fucking maintenance man to give them a hand throwing her boxes in the back of the truck. “Right now, we’ve got to figure out what our plan is.”

“Oh…,” she said softly, and her entire body curled into itself, and he suddenlyknewwhat the plan was.

“I mean, we’re gonna move you into your brother’s place,” he said blithely. “That’s a no-brainer. You guys were hoping to do that anyway.”

Her spine straightened. “We can do that?” she asked. “Like, for real?”

“Wellyeah,darlin’,” he said, remembering to smile. “This was his plan the whole time, right? That spear-sharpener lady speeded things along a bit, that’s all.”

“Oh, Guthrie,” she breathed. “You just became my second favorite brother.”

He let out a weak chuckle. “Fair enough. But first we’ve got to stop by my apartment again, darlin’. I need to pack more clothes andburnthat polo shirt I was wearing when you came and got me.”

She let out a gurgle of laughter so young and carefree, he was pretty sure it was the reason Tad had gone to hell and back again for her. You couldn’t turn down someone making that noise, not a chance.

THE APARTMENTmanager had let Lulu and Agnes in, and they were there when he stopped by, and he was grateful because it meant he could explain the situation, and of course show them where he put the shampoo and towels. He’d felt badly at first. He’d seen himself as sort of their chaperone—their guide—in this new place, but he should have known by now that Kelly’s sisters would beextremelyself-sufficient.

“We did some moving around,” Agnes said excitedly, practically jumping up and down. She was a tiny girl with a heart-shaped face and enormously expressive brown eyes, and watching her was a delight—but also exhausting, much like Livvy’s sister. Where did these young women get their energy? They wereunstoppable. “I hope it’s okay,” she continued, “but Lulu brought some portable drawers, so mine are here, and hers are there, and all of your stuff is in your place, and we put up flowered valances so, you know, people know this is a girl’s room, if that’s okay and all. Kelly said you were sort ofawesome, although I know we only know you from our brother’s wedding and all, but you’re Seth’s friend, and you know, Seth needs people to watch his back, so that’s okay. Oh, who’s this? I thought you were gay ’cause you were in love with Seth. Was Kelly full of shit or do you collect girls?”

“Oh my God,Agnes!” Lulu, her more restrained sister said in exasperation. “I could swear you were raised by humans. For God’s sake, let the man speak!”

Guthrie turned to April, who was chewing her lower lip, overwhelmed. “This is my friend Tad’s sister. She, uhm, sort of lost her apartment, and we’re moving her into her brother’s place.”

But Agnes took in April’s pale face and her timidity, and she wasn’t stupid. “Is she a sister like Matty was our brother?” she asked suspiciously, and Guthrie grimaced. He’d heard stories of their brother Matty.

“Not quite,” he said gently. “Some people reach for the rope to pull themselves up.”

Agnes’s troubled look lifted. “Oh good. I’m glad. I wouldn’t wish that sort of pain on anybody.” She gave April a brilliant smile. “Good luck and everything. Remember, if you’ve got a brother who’s willing to do everything for you, you’ve got something special. ’Cause our brother, Kelly, is like that, and his husband, Seth, is just as good. So anyways, you remember that like he said, use the rope to pull yourself up, okay?”

Lulu grimaced. “I can’t believe you’re some sort of savant,” she said grimly.

“It’s on the stage,” Agnes retorted. “I’mobviouslydramatic.”

April made a tiny grunt of laughter, and Guthrie took a breath. “So is it okay if we take a break here, make ourselves some sandwiches, and then we’ll be on our way? We need tomake Sacramento before it’s dark so I can meet up with her brother’s partner on the force. We’re doing a car thing.”

“Wait,” Lulu said suspiciously. “Your brother’s a cop?”

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