Page 42 of No More Words

She nods slowly, wishing he could give her the answers she needed. She wishes she had all the answers for him. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

He rolls to his side, giving her his back.

Olivia closes his door as her phone buzzes in her back pocket. The sound tells her it’s a text from Blaze. She ignores it and texts Lucas, asking if he’d take Josh shopping in the morning. She wants to pay Charlotte a visit. Dwight never cared for Lily. Her pregnancy was one more stain on his campaign, and Josh must be a reminder of his failures. That’s why Charlotte doesn’t want him to know about Josh. But Olivia wants to know if that’s all. Is there another reason Charlotte wants to keep Josh from Dwight? Is it related to Lily being missing?

Olivia returns to the kitchen intent on pouring a whiskey before rejoining Ethan when she notices Josh’s backpack leaning against the table leg. For the first time since his arrival, the pack is out of his sight.

With a glance over her shoulder, she drops the pack on the chair and rifles through the compartments. She finds gum wrappers and broken pencils in the front pocket, a Hellblazer graphic novel in the middle pocket. She flips through the book, wondering if it’s appropriate for his age. She returns the book and pulls out this month’s issue ofThrasher Magazine. Pictures have been cut out, leaving windowless frames in the pages. They trigger a memory.

Lucas gifted her a subscription toApollofor her thirteenth birthday with the money he saved from mowing lawns. Olivia renewed the art magazine every year. She treasured the issues and kept them stacked in her bedroom. Once, during her senior year, she came home from school to find her collection missing.

Afraid her parents tossed the issues, she sought them out in the living room where they spent the evening after dinner. “Who took my magazines?”

Charlotte, legs curled on the couch, looked up from the book open on her lap. “I haven’t seen them.” She licked her finger, turned a page. “Maybe it’s for the best. They made your room look messy.”

“Did not. Dad, what about you? Have you seen them?”

Dwight peered over the front page of theWall Street Journal. “Have you checked with Lucas or Lily?”

“Lucas knows how much they mean to me. He wouldn’t have touched them.”

“Must be Lily. You know how she is,” he murmured.

Charlotte glared at Dwight like she was trying to will him from the house.

Olivia tossed her hair and left the room, leaving her parents to bicker. When she was young, it used to bother her how Dwight treated Lily like she was a lesser member of the family. But lately Olivia had seen his point. Ever since Olivia beat up Lucas at the lake, Lily had been nothing but a nuisance to her.

Olivia pounded on Lily’s door.

“It’s unlocked,” Lily said.

She pushed open the door and stopped short. Lily sat in the middle of her bed with dozens ofApolloissues and a pile of cutout pages. Large shears snipped a photo in the most recent issue. Olivia knew the issue because she’d been saving the magazine to read Bae Lee’s interview. She was Olivia’s favorite contemporary ceramics artist. Her work was a smart juxtaposition of classic and modern craftsmanship, and Lily was cutting out Bae’s face. Shredded paper and torn issues littered the floor like a street after a parade.

“My magazines! What have you done?”

Lily flinched. “Daddy said you didn’t want them anymore.”

“Liar. I just saw Dad. He would have told me that. You should have asked me.”

“My project is due tomorrow. You weren’t home.”

“Doesn’t mean you can go into my room and take them.” She scooped up the nearest issues, salvaging what she could.

Lily grabbed for them. “Hey, I need those.”

Olivia moved out of reach. “They’re mine.” She flipped through a magazine. Pages were missing, others had windows to the page behind. Her body tightened with rage. “You ruin everything.”

“I do not.”

“My prom dress?”

“That wasn’t me!”

“Liar.” Their dad had seen her dancing in the backyard while wearing the dress.

Olivia gathered up the issues Lily hadn’t touched and stopped in the doorway. “Stay out of my room. Better yet, stay out of my life.” She slammed the door.

The glass slider closes. “Hey.”

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