Firefly Mountain by Christine DePetrillo Page B

Gini watched as Patrick ate his sandwich almost mechanically, as if he were counting the number of times he chewed. She thought she’d made some headway with him this morning, but apparently she was wrong. He was more closed off than ever.
    What was wrong with asking if he ever broke the rules? She’d been teasing. Okay, maybe she’d been hoping. Hoping he’d take the bait. He looked as if he’d thought about it before he stormed out of the bathroom. Good Goddess, he was difficult to read. She’d never get his picture for the calendar at this rate.
    When the lunch break ended, Gini decided it was time for a new strategy.
    “Raina,” she said. “Want to work with me on removing the wallpaper in the hallway?”
    Patrick’s head popped up, and Raina gaped at him. His eyes sent her a warning that Gini couldn’t decode. What was he so afraid of?
    “Sure.” Raina slowly stood, hesitating in front of Patrick, but he nodded.
    “Great. C’mon.” Gini grabbed Raina by the forearm and led her to the hallway.
    Soon the others meandered back to their various projects. Patrick started on another wall—one where he could see the hallway, Gini noted.
    “What do you want me to do?” Raina asked. “I’ve never removed wallpaper before.” She glanced back at Patrick.
    “Find a seam and get the razor blade underneath it. Like this.” Gini successfully stripped off a sizeable sheet of paper. Smoothing her hand over the area, she said, “We’ll have to do something about the glue that’s left behind, but let’s get the paper off to start.”
    Raina nodded and began peeling. After a few moments of silent work, Raina peeked at Patrick again, who was ripping into more studs with his saw. His earplugs were wedged in his ears.
    “You like him.” Raina stood mere inches from where Gini scraped the wall.
    Gini stopped working and stared at Raina. “What?”
    “My brother. You like him. I can tell. There have been enough longing glances on both your parts. I know about longing glances.” She waved to Mason, who rolled a garbage barrel past them. He shot her a quick smile and continued on his way.
    “I don’t know wh—” Gini started.
    “Save it,” Raina interrupted. “Patrick could yank those earplugs out at any second. It’s good you like him. I want you to like him. I also want you to know Patrick has many…layers. Layers he’s thickened up over time to keep the world out. His moving here was an enormous step. I still can’t believe he did it. I’m so glad he did though, and I want him to have the whole deal, you know.”
    Gini wasn’t sure what to say. She’d expected to have to grill Raina and here she was just giving the information out.
    “The house, the job, the chick. A life. It’s about time he allowed himself to have one. He’s always worried about taking care of my sister, Julianne, or me. He’s ignored his own needs. You can fix that.”
    Gini swallowed loudly. She had her own things to fix. How could she fix someone else’s mess? She risked a glance at Patrick still sawing, and a strange sensation passed through her. Like a cooling breeze, a melting of something inside her. It relaxed her, loosened the muscles in her entire body.
    “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy,” Raina said. “He’s a handful. No doubt about it. You probably already realize that. But he’s also the most unselfish man you’ll ever meet. He’ll always put you first. Always.”
    As the saw wound to a stop and Patrick removed his earplugs, Raina slid down the hallway a little ways. She tugged at the wallpaper and sent a pastel flower-covered length to the floor. Gini stared at it as her mind processed what Raina had said.
    “What’s the matter?” Jonah whispered. He leaned on the ladder he was toting to the kitchen.
    Gini turned to face him. His safety glasses were hooked on the neck of his T-shirt. “Nothing’s the matter.”
    “You sure you’re not…you know, mad?” He propped the ladder against the