Riven Lomax never really got along with the eldest Fisher brother, Conrad, he'd always teased her, annoyed her and spent most of his time with the boys and Belly. When she arrives at Cousins for the summer, as she always had, the atmosphere is diffe...
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It took a minute to remember where she was when she woke. Riven checked her phone to see it was just after eight in the morning. It felt bizarre to not be woken by loud noises coming from the kitchen, or all four of the boys stomping around the upstairs.
What she would give to walk into Belly's room right now and see her sitting in her bed. To complain about the noise, about how long Spencer took in the shower, or the way Steven left his wet towel on the floor. To spend hours talking to her about everything and nothing. But Belly wasn't here. Riven didn't even know how she was doing.
What a shitty friend, Riven thought about herself. She hadn't even asked Jeremiah about Belly, there hadn't been the right moment to. Maybe later. But for now, they had a house for sale that needed sorting out.
Last night made things more awkward. She and Conrad hadn't spoken when she saw him sitting by the pool, she sort of froze for a moment and then went back inside. Maybe that made her look ridiculous, but she knew that if she'd spoken to him it would've been worse.
Riven pulled some socks over her feet before leaving her room. As she reached the bottom step of the staircase, she could hear Conrad's voice floating in from the kitchen. She assumed he was talking with Susannah's finanical guy, as he put it.
Jeremiah joined her side as they made their way to the kitchen. They stopped in the doorway, watching Conrad finish up his conversation on the phone, "He's calling soon and I'll get him to sign off. Okay. Yeah. Thank you."
Conrad dropped his phone onto the kitchen island, exhaling an irritated breath. Jeremiah was the first to walk in, "Wanna talk about a Plan B?"
"There's no time for a Plan B, Jer." Conrad told his brother.
"No time? Come on, dude." Jeremiah frowned, "Is your ego really that big or is--"
The older Fisher interrupted him, "Aunt Julia's already here."
Riven's eyebrows pulled together as she joined Jeremiah's side, "What?"
"Yeah, she got in yesterday." Conrad told them, "She's at Ocean Harbor."
"You saw her?" Jeremiah questioned.
"I mean we talked on the phone for about five seconds." Conrad explained. Riven noticed that he still wouldn't look at her. "She couldn't be bothered to go to Mom's funeral, but she'll hop on the first flight to come sell this place."
"I don't get it." Jeremiah continued to frown, "Why? What's the big rush."
"It doesn't matter why. This isn't a game, okay? This is serious shit." Conrad picked up his phone and stared at his brother, "So just go back to bed and let me deal with it."
