All Unquiet Things by Anna Jarzab Page A

family. My mother called this morning and told me. She teamed up with Hilary’s parents, Louise and Charles Jordan, to put a down payment on a house in the valley for them, and they’re moving in next week sometime.”
    I leaned over to Carly and whispered, “Who’s Enzo?”
    “My uncle,” she said. “Dad’s brother. Audrey is his daughter. She’s our age.”
    “Oh.” It was the first I’d heard of either of them. “Are you close?”
    “Not really. They’ve lived in Portland since we were babies, and they don’t visit that often.” She glanced up and noticed her dad staring at us. “Tell you later.”

    Once we were back at her house, Carly gave me Enzo’s entire sordid history. After graduating from Brighton as one of the marginal one percent of students who don’t go on to a four-year college or university, Enzo Ribelli had careened from failed scheme to failed scheme for almost ten years, sporadically attending classes at the local community college while dabbling in everything from construction to starting his own lawn-mowing business before hooking up with Hilary Jordan,a USC junior, during her summer vacation. The day before Hilary was supposed to go back to school, she found out that she was pregnant; she and Enzo married quickly, and he moved down to Los Angeles with her. In her fifth month, Hilary suffered a painful miscarriage, but somehow she and Enzo stayed married.
    Several years later, two weeks after Miranda had Carly, Hilary sent word that she had also given birth to a baby girl. For a while, the families made an effort to keep in contact, if only for the sake of the children, but Enzo eventually moved his wife and daughter to Oregon, ostensibly for some job, and the lines of communication collapsed. Now the only way Carly’s parents got news from Enzo was through Paul’s mother. The last time they had heard anything was when Hilary had abandoned her husband and daughter two years earlier. Audrey’s grandparents on both sides were sending money every month, but it had recently become clear that it wasn’t being spent the way it was meant to be, so they had finally convinced Enzo to bring his daughter back to Empire Valley.
    It was hard to figure out how Carly felt about Audrey moving to Empire Valley. I tried to draw her out, but she was inscrutable. Later, when we were sitting on the porch, Carly pressing her cheek and shoulder into my chest, I asked her flat out what she was thinking.
    She lifted her head. “About what?”
    “Your cousin coming to town. You seem upset.”
    “I’m not. I just don’t know her very well, and my dad is going to expect me to help her out at school. Mams says she’s not a very good student.” Mams was what Carly called her father’s mother. Her mother’s parents lived in Connecticut, and the Ribellis weren’t nearly as close to them.
    “You’re worried that Paul’s going to make you tutor her?” I raised my eyebrows. That didn’t sound like Carly.
    Her shoulders drooped, and she sat up. “Maybe you should go home now. It’s getting really late. I’m tired.”
    “Carly—” I held fast to her wrist.
    “Neily, let go.”
    “No. Carly, this is getting ridiculous. Ever since we found out about your mom, you’ve been so weird with me. Talk to me.”
    “Don’t say ‘we’ like it’s the same for you and me,” she warned. “You stay up half the night holding her hair back while she throws up from the chemo, then you get to say things like ‘we.’”
    “I would help if you asked me to,” I told her. “I’d do anything. I’ve been trying to give you more space, but if you need me I’m here.”
    Carly brushed at her eyes. “I know.”
    But I felt like I had to keep saying it. “No matter what happens, I’m always going to help you if you need me.” It was these words I remembered the morning of the day Carly died, the ones that made me call her back, seek her out. I wanted to be the sort of guy who made good on his