Authors: Elodie Short
“Yes!” Anna exclaims from the backseat and I turn the key to start my car and pull out of the parking lot.
It’s taken us nearly an hour to drive to my brothers’ house in the country side, and when we finally get there and I park on their driveway, Rick turns to me, “is this where you brother lives?” he asks.
“Yes,” I smile and open my door to get out of the car.
“Oh,” he groans, “good,” and instantly gets out of my car to stretch his legs.
“Can I get out too?” Anna begs from the back.
“If you must,” Rick laughs at her and he pushes his seat forwards to let Anna out.
“Hand me Herbert first,” he tells her when she’s about to set his cage down next to her. They squeeze the cage through the small gap again, before Rick passes the cage on to me. I take it from him and walk with it to Brendan’s front door.
I place the cage on the front step to ring the doorbell, and suddenly remember I’ve almost forgotten his food and sawdust. I quickly run back to my car, get the sawdust out of the back, and reach behind the passenger seat to pick up his food. When I get back up I notice that Brendan has already opened the front door and I run back to it.
“Hi.” I wave at him when I walk back to the door. I drop the sawdust and food next to the cage on the ground.
“Hi Summer,” he laughs, “I didn’t know you’d be bringing people.”
“Oh, yeah,” I look back at Anna and Rick, “they’re friends.”
“Friends?” he asks, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
“Mhm,” I nod, “where’s Mick?”
Brendan turns his head over his shoulder to shout through the house, “Mick? Come say hello to Auntie Summer.”
“Hi!” I can hear him shout back, “Daddy said you’d be bringing a bunny,” he says, peeking his head around the corner at the end of the hallway.
“I did,” I smile at him, and point to the cage on the ground.
He comes running over, jumps through the doorway and kneels down next to Herbert on the front step. “Hello Bunny,” he coos at Herbert while he sticks his finger through the metal bars of the cage and tries to stroke him.
“Do you want to come in for a drink?” Brendan asks. I look back at Anna and Rick and see Anna looking at Mick with curiosity.
“We can stay for a drink,” I nod. “Anna, do you want to come and meet my nephew?”
She nods slowly and cautiously she walks over to us. “Hi,” she greets him shyly while she stands behind me.
“Hello there,” Brendan smiles at her, “who are you?”
“I’m Anna,” she smiles back up at him, “who are you?”
“I’m Brendan,” he replies with a chuckle, “and this is Mick. Mick, say hi to Anna.”
“Hi Anna.” Mick replies without looking up. He’s still busy poking Herbert.
“Would you like to come in for a drink Anna?” Brendan asks her.
“Yes please,” she nods, takes my hand and starts pulling me inside. “They have a carpet like you,” she laughs as she enters the hallway.
I laugh in reply, “yes they do, but keep your socks on this time.”
“Okay.”
I look out over my shoulder and see Rick still lingering next to my car, “you want to come in for a drink?”
“Don’t you need to lock your car?” he asks when he joins us in the hallway.
“Nah.” I shake my head, “it’s not really needed here.”
He raises his eyebrows and looks outside, “really?”
“Really,” I smile as Brendan bends over in an attempt to pick up Herbert’s cage, food and sawdust all at once.
“Let me get that,” Rick says, reaching out to pick up the bags.
“Thanks,” Brendan says as he pushes the front door closed with his foot while he balances the cage in his arms.
“Why don’t you two go to your play room?” Brendan suggests to Mick.
“Okay Daddy,” Mick replies and motions for Anna to follow him into the next room, where she stops just before entering and with big eyes turns back to us.
“It’s a room full of toys!” she exclaims, and squealing with excitement she runs in.
Rick and I both laugh before sitting down.
“What would you like to drink?” Brendan asks after he’s placed Herbert’s cage on the floor under the windowsill.
“Could I have a coffee please?” I ask my brother.
“Sure,” he nods, “and you?” he asks turning to Rick, “sorry, I don’t think I got your name?”
“It’s Rick,” he smiles politely at Brendan, “and I’ll have a coffee too please.”
“Coming up,” my brother says before retreating to the kitchen.
A few minutes later he comes back into the living room with a tray in his hands, balancing three mugs with black coffee, small bottles with sugar and milk, two plastic cups with what looks like lemonade and a pack of biscuits.
“Thank you,” Rick and I say in unison as we both gratefully take a mug.
“No problem,” Brendan smiles, and picks up the two plastic cups to hand to the kids in the other room.
“So, how did you two meet?” he asks us when he sits down with his own coffee.
“Well,” I start, and then I’m not sure how to carry on. I don’t want to tell Brendan the whole story about Anna’s upbringing, their mom and the men that have obviously come looking for us for some reason, although I am still not sure why. I wonder if their mom has finally given Anna up to be used by them, and they’re now coming to collect. “I met Anna at the park,” is all I end up telling him.
“At the park?” he looks at me curiously.
“Yes,” I laugh as I realise how silly it sounds, “I went to the park to sit on a bench and do some work on my laptop outside, you know, ‘cause not everyone has a garden like you. And that’s where I met Anna.”
“Okay,” he replies with a hint of sarcasm, “that still doesn’t explain a lot.”
Suddenly Rick takes over, “Anna had run away from home, and Summer brought her back to me.”
“Are you her dad?” Brendan asks with the curious look still clearly evident on his face.
“No.” Rick chuckles, “I’m her brother, so was a… A eh, late surprise.”
“I see,” Brendan finally smiles, “and now you’re all going to the beach?”
“Yup,” I reply shortly. “Anna has never seen a beach, so I thought it would be a nice treat.”
“Okay,” he hesitates for a moment, “and you two?”
“Us?” we reply simultaneously.
“Yes, you,” Brendan chuckles.
“Well,” I feel my cheeks redden as I look over at Rick, “we’re just friends?” It comes out as more of a high pitched question than a statement and I see the corners of Ricks mouth trying to hide a smile.
“Close friends,” he clarifies with a chuckle.
“I see,” Brendan repeats himself as he lets out a chuckle as well, and I look from one to the other as they look at each other as if they share a deep secret. “I wish you luck with that.” Brendan laughs.
“Thanks.” Rick says and then grins at me.
***
“Anna? Are you ready to go?” Rick calls out to the other room after we’ve finished out second cup of coffee.
“Have you seen all the toys in here?!” she shouts back.
“No.” Laughing he walks over to the other room, and kneels down next to Anna, “what are you playing with?”
“His cars, Mick has lots of cars. I’ve never seen so many cars! These ones have been in a crash, so the ambulance and the fire truck are here,” she explains to him as he looks at the pile of cars around her legs.
Brendan has quietly gotten up from his chair in the living room and walked in behind Rick. “He’s got way too many cars,” he chuckles, “would you like to take some with you? I’m sure he’s got some that he never plays with. Mick, why don’t you get a few cars that Anna can borrow?”
“Aww, but Da-had,” Mick whines at the request, “I need them.”
“You don’t need all of them,” Brendan replies sternly.
“Okay.” Mick gives in with a little sigh, “she can have the ones from the bottom of the box.” Sulkily he walks over to one of his many toy boxes and roots around the bottom until he pulls two handfuls of little cars out. “She can play with these, but she has to promise to give them back!”
Brendan smiles at his son, “she promises, won’t you Anna?”
Anna looks up at Brendan with big eyes and nods shyly, “I promise,” she whispers in a small voice. After Brendan has placed them in a carrier bag for us, he gets the key to the beach hut from one of the kitchen drawers and hands it to me along with the bag.
“It’s number fourteen.”
“I remember which one it is,” I smile at him, “it’s the blue one.”
“If you have any problems, let me know. We haven’t been for a long time, but it’s all locked up.”
“Will do,” I smile again, “and thank you for letting us borrow it.”
“No problem,” he laughs, “it’s good to have someone go there every once in a while. We haven’t been able to, but it’s good to have someone check up on the place. You’re actually doing me a favour.”
I laugh back, “well, then I guess we’re even. You’re doing me a favour by looking after Herbert.”
Together we walk to his front door, but before he opens it he turns to Rick and whispers, “be good to her. She might seem strong, but if you hurt her I will come for you.”
I blush when I hear him say it and watch Rick stare at his feet for a second before looking up at Brendan, “I won’t.”
“Good,” he replies and opens the door for us.
I stay back until I am the last one the leave the hallway, “don’t do that,” I hiss at Brendan as I pass him.
“Don’t do what?” he looks at me innocently, “all I’m doing is looking out for you.”
“Thanks, but you made him uncomfortable.”
Brendan shrugs at me, “if he can’t handle that, then I’m not sure if he’s the right guy for you.”
“He is,” I quietly grunt as I step outside.
Brendan shrugs again, “fine, I won’t embarrass your ‘friend’ again,” he lets out a chuckle as he makes air quotes with his fingers when he says the word friend.
I can’t help but smile back at him, “I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Okay, I’ll try and keep your rabbit alive for that long.”
I shake my head as I walk over to Rick and Anna who are already waiting at the passenger side to be let in. I unlock my car and give one last wave to Brendan and Mick who are still standing in the door opening to see us off. Once Anna and Rick are both seated I start my car and drive away.
***
When we finally arrive at the beach after another long drive, the sun is already hanging above the horizon, ready to set at any moment. Yet the beach is still surprisingly busy with people sunbathing and children building sandcastles and shrieking while they run in and out of the water.
I park my car behind the row of colourful beach huts and all three of us get out. Rick and I collect as much as we can carry from the back of my car, and we start making our way down the wooden steps in between the huts. I remember Brendan’s hut being a soft blue, but many more have been painted in the same colour since I was last here.
“Which one is it?” Rick asks.
“Number fourteen,” I tell him, remembering the hut number Brendan told me earlier. I didn’t think I’d need to know the number, I thought I could just walk up to the hut from memory, but it turns out that would’ve been a lot trickier.
We walk past several people lounging in front of their huts, wet towels draped over the backs of plastic chairs to dry in the last rays of sun and beach balls and other toys discarded all over the place.
In front of number fourteen I stop, and look at the hut curiously.
“This is it,” I mumble a little uncertain to Rick while I stand in front of Brendan’s beach hut. The latch seems to have been broken and dangles from the left door. An uneasy feeling rushes through me as I walk up the three steps.
I carefully place my hand on the small double doors, ready to pull them open when I hear Rick drop his bags on the ground and flies up the stairs, “wait,” he orders me.
I stand back to give him some space and let him open the doors carefully. As soon as they open, the musty, damp smell hits my nostrils. “I guess we have to air it out for a little while,” I say, scrunching up my nose. The hut smells of a mixture of salty sea water and stale beer, evidenced by the empty cans lying in the middle of the hut.
“It’s not that bad,” Rick replies smiling wryly, “you should smell our house sometimes.”
Anna walks in past me, and takes a deep breath through her nose, “not that bad,” she echoes Rick with a smile and I laugh at her.
I take a step away from the hut and look around us, both neighbouring huts are occupied and I decide to walk up to the people to our right.
“Hi,” I greet them.
“Hello?” the man replies, curiously looking up at me from his paper.
“We own the hut next door,” I say while I point at Brendan’s hut. “It’s been a while since we’ve been here, over a year actually. Would you happen to know who’s been inside of it?”