“Gabe isn’t the one hiding things. Not willingly. I can see it whenever he dodges the topic. It’s you. I know it’s you”

R

ivi is still wearing slippers. It’s such a stupid thing to zero in on when her brother has been ducking bullets downtown, but it’s all she can think about as she sits in the passenger seat of the minivan, the slippers sliding off her feet.

She should have changed while Ezra grabbed a neighbor to babysit. Gabe is safe now. Penina is safe now. They could have waited another minute for her to put on shoes.

She isn’t wearing a coat, either, and she’s freezing. Ezra is in a thin white shirt, also without a coat. He must be just as cold, but his hands are steady on the wheel and his eyes are trained out the windshield.

“Do you have any idea why someone would shoot at Gabe?” he says without turning to her.

“There’s some crime in Lenape Falls,” Rivi says dully, a not-quite-truth that feels bald-faced and wrong. “Maybe he got caught in the crossfire.”

“Maybe.” Ezra’s lips purse together. “Or maybe you can finally tell me whatever it is that you and Gabe have been keeping from me.”

Rivi twists to stare at him. Ezra doesn’t smile. “I’m not an idiot.”

“No,” Rivi agrees, a little too hastily. It sounds like a shrill yelp, silly and childish, and for a moment, Ezra’s face gets soft again. It hardens when Rivi says lamely, “It’s really been Gabe’s thing.”

“Gabe isn’t the one hiding things. Not willingly. I can see it whenever he dodges the topic. It’s you. I know it’s you.” He says it in an accusatory tone, unrelenting. Rivi is backed into a corner, and she can’t lie to him, not now.