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“Hughie, no!” Claire snapped, wrapping a protective arm around his broad shoulders as he sprawled on top of her. “Can’t you see he’s upset?”
“I know he’s upset, Claire,” I replied evenly. “I’m trying to help.”
“Then stop pushing him,” she shot back, using her free hand to drape her pink duvet over his shoulders. “Gerard already told you everything he knows.”
“I know he did,” I bit out, unable to smother my frustration. “But Liz’s reaction doesn’t make sense—”
“Because her sister just died!” Claire countered with a warning glare. “She’s grieving, Hughie. Youknowwhat that does to people.” Her gaze momentarily flicked to Gibs before she gave me a meaningful look.You remember what it did to Gibsie, her eyes told me. “Nothing she’s been saying makes any sense. It’s been three days since I last visited her and I’mstilltrying to make sense of her ramblings.”
“I don’t know what she wanted me to say at the grave,” Gibsie strangled out through heaving sobs, as he clung to my sister. “I wanted to help her, I still do, but I didn’t see what happened to Caoimhe that night, guys!”
“We know you didn’t, Gerard.” Claire tried to console him, trailing her fingers through his curls, while he soaked her T-shirt with his tears. “You were here with us.”
“I thought they were in America,” he continued to sob, holding on to my sister like she was the only thing anchoring him to earth in this moment. “I didn’t know they were still in Ballylaggin. I didn’t, I didn’t, I swear–”
“I think he did it,” I blurted out, finally addressing the elephant in the room. “I think Mark raped Caoimhe.”
You could have heard a pin drop.
“Hughie!” Claire gasped, looking horrified. “You can’t say that out loud.”
“Why not?”
“Because Sadhbh said we’re not supposed to.”
“Yeah, well, no offense to Sadhbh, or you, Gibs, but I don’t give a damn what she said,” I snapped, feeling my emotions roar to the surface. “Because I believe my girlfriend.”
“Hughie!” Claire squealed again, mouth hanging open.
“I mean it, Claire.” Pushing off the windowsill, I paced my sister’s room like a man on a mission. “Not about the whole Gibs thing—obviously. But Mark?” I shook my head in disgust. “Liz wouldn’t say it if there wasn’t some truth to it. That prick definitely did something to Caoimhe that night.”
“The Gardaí said he didn’t,” Claire squeezed out, looking fearful. I knew why. She thought my admission would wreak havoc on Gibsie’s frazzled nerves, and maybe it would, but I had to say something, dammit. “They deemed her death as suicide, and Mam said Lizzie is very traumatized over seeing Caoimhe being pulled out of the river—”
“I believe her, Claire!” I cut her off by shouting, beyond agitated now. “And the whole fucking town can twist it whatever way they want, but it won’t change my feelings on the matter.” Turning my attention to my friend, I said, “Gibs, I want you to look at me when I say this.”
Reluctantly, he did.
“I willalwaysprotect you,” I promised, locking eyes on his tearful, gray ones. “Do you hear me? I will always be here to look after you. And Iknowyou haven’t done anything wrong, okay? So, don’t for one second think that I’m ever going to turn my back on you. Blood or not, you’re my baby brother and you always will be.”
“But?” Gibs interjected with a sniffle.
“But she needs me,” I forced myself to say, feeling my heart boom like a drum in my chest. “Do you understand?”
Gibs shook his head, looking up at me like a lost puppy. “No.”
“I’m going to be spending a lot of time at Lizzie’s place this summer,” I explained in a steady tone. “Which means I won’t be around much…”
“To hang out with me.” He finally tweaked, which only made him look even more lonesome. “But you’re still my friend, right?”
“Always,” I vowed, crossing my heart. “But she’s my girlfriend, and she doesn’t have anyone else.”You have Claire. “I can’t leave her on her own in this.”
“I don’t want you to turn your back on Liz,” he croaked out weakly. “I don’t want her to not be my friend.”
“Maybe Liz will come around,” Claire offered in a hopeful tone. “When she’s not so sad anymore.”
“She’s never not going to be sad,” Gibsie replied, sniffling again. “Trust me, that kind of sadness never goes away. The world just stops seeing it.”
“We graduated tonight, and sports are out for the summer,” I offered up, focusing my attention on my friend. “So when I head over to Lizzie’s tomorrow, I plan on staying awhile.”
