She continued standing on the front porch even after the two men had gotten in a car and driven down the hill.
Fifteen
“Where’s Rill?” Katie asked when she stumbled bleary-eyed into the kitchen the next day and saw her brother sitting at the table reading a newspaper. Katie had glanced down the hallway when she came down the stairs and seen Rill’s bedroom door wide-open, so she’d assumed he was up.
Everett set down the paper and took a swig of his coffee. Katie noticed he was wearing the newsboy hat again, a white T-shirt, horrid knee-length sweat shorts, black socks and white Converse tennis shoes. With his tall, lean body and careless elegance, he actually managed to make the ensemble look quirky chic instead of atrocious, which it would have been on any other human on the planet. If Katie thought Everett was trying to be cute on purpose, it would have annoyed her, but she knew the truth. Almost everything Everett did was effortlessly perfect, right down to the fact that he typically couldn’t care less about perfection.
On one or two occasions, Katie had been known to snort with the deepest sarcasm when a friend complained of being overshadowed by an older sibling.
“Don’t know where he is,” Everett said. “When I was leaving for my jog I saw him disappear into the woods.”
Katie sighed and padded over to get a cup of much-needed coffee. Autumn was definitely upon them now. Despite the fact that she’d been sure she wouldn’t be able to sleep last night, the cool night air flowing through her window had acted like a soporific.
She was a little shocked at how well she’d slept given the tumultuous events of yesterday . . . despite the fact that she and Rill had practically set his bed on fire. Twice.
The memory caused her muscles to clench tight. Another reason she’d thought she wouldn’t sleep well was that she thought Rill might come to her bedroom. He hadn’t, though. She supposed with Everett in the house, he would find it easier to deny his sexual attraction for her.
“Rill does that a lot, hikes in the woods. I think it helps him to think,” she said as she scuffed to the table in her fuzzy pink slippers. “I hope you didn’t keep him out too late last night.”
Everett gave her a sharp glance. “In case you didn’t notice, Rill and I were up long before you. We had one beer, I tried to talk to Rill, and he blew me off. That was about the extent of our wild night out.”
“What do you mean, he blew you off?” Katie asked cautiously. Rill had seemed so resigned last night, she’d assumed he felt guilty and was planning to atone by confessing his sins to Everett. Rill could be strangely old-fashioned about sex for a Hollywood film director.
“I mean I tried to draw him out, but it was a rerun of when I visited him here last winter. I talk; he grunts a few times and generally avoids looking me in the eye altogether.” Everett glanced out the window onto the gray fall day, his expression thoughtful. “Do you get the impression he’s extremely pissed at you?”
“Are you kidding? All the time,” Katie said in a beleaguered manner.
Everett caught her eye. “He seems agitated by you being here, but I think we’re talking about two different things. Sometimes I get the impression I’ve done something to offend him.”
“Have you?”
“Not that I know of,” Everett replied with a shrug. “If anything, I’ve been way too easy on him since Eden died. I tried to help him, he blew me off, and I let him. You did the right thing, you know. Coming out here. Mom thinks so, too.”
Katie stared at him, shocked.
“Mom actually told you that?” she squeaked.
“And Dad. Both of them think you have the right idea. Rill’s in a bad place. Just because he acted like a complete ass when I was here before didn’t give me an excuse to get all self-righteous and bail on him.”
“I thought you were going to lecture me on how stupid and impulsive and childish I was being by coming here.”
Everett gave her a clumsy pat on the back of her hand. “You got it right, Katie. I’m the one who was wrong.”
Knowing that her family wasn’t thinking she was a complete dingbat, that she actually “got it right” by following her heart, caused warmth to flood her. Of course . . . they didn’t know about the job situation yet—
“The stunt I was talking about last night wasn’t coming out here to try and cheer up Rill. I was talking about the fact that you’re sleeping with him.”
Katie paused with her coffee cup three inches from her mouth. Dread quickly replaced the warmth in her veins. “You didn’t lecture Rill about that last night, did you?”
Everett shook his head, his expression sober. “No. I don’t think he realized I knew. Christ, Katie. You’re not just sleeping with him, are you? You’re falling for him.”
“I fell for him a long, long time ago,” Katie replied gruffly.
Everett closed his eyes and let out a sigh. She guessed from his reaction that, like Rill, her brother had never guessed she had feelings for Rill beyond friendship until this visit. She should give herself credit. Apparently, Everett wasn’t the only actor in the family.
“He’s in an awful place.” Everett sounded exasperated and worried by her revelation, but it was the tinge of sadness in his tone that made tears spring to her eyes. “He has nothing to give you right now. Rill will only hurt you, Katie.”
Katie straightened her spine and took a determined sip of coffee even though she was seeing things through a curtain of tears.