Definitely not the Little Mermaid

The Return of the Twin

Chapter Eighteen

                  
The walk from the bus stop to the house was done in a flurry of hurried steps. As soon as we reached the house, Austin pulled out his own key that I had actually thought was lost and proceeded to unlock the door. I was pushed inside first.

I peeled off the drenched parka and dropped it on the floor. Austin turned away from the locked door and shook out his hair. I squealed as the water hit me.

"Austin!" I whined.

Austin just grinned and brushed past me, heading upstairs. I pulled off the wet parka and left it and my shoes by the door. I padded up to my room, wincing with every squelching step I took.

I changed out of my wet clothes, transferred everything from wet pockets to dry pockets, and towelled my hair dry. I grabbed two more towels and went to the twins' room. I knocked and waited. Austin yanked the door open. I gingerly held out the towels, half-expecting Austin to just close the door on me. Much to my surprise, Austin not only accepted the towels with a grateful smile, but he also shifted and gestured inside the room.

I tried not to grin as I ducked under his arm and entered the room. It smelt like smoke. I paused, wrinkled my nose and scanned the room for the source. I found the half-finished cigarette balanced precariously on an ashtray by the window. I itched to head over and put it out but I remained put. Instead I pivoted around and looked at Austin.

He crossed the room, heading to the cigarette. He put it out and began drying his hair.

"Dad messaged me while I was waiting for you," he said.

"Oh?" I frowned.

"He said Gareth's been discharged."

"Huh? Why!?"

"Dad and Mom are doctors. The hospital figured that he'd be fine back at home." Austin shrugged.

"So Gareth's coming back? Like now?" I looked around the room frantically. I didn't see how this was going to work out. Gareth was still in a wheelchair. The bedrooms were all upstairs. Everything except the kitchen and living room was upstairs. Gareth couldn't sleep on the couch forever. I started to chew on my thumb.

"Angie," Austin barked, moving over to me and swatting my hand away from my mouth. I started and glared back at him.

"Dad's got it figured out. He's gonna turn the garage into a temporary room for Gareth until we get something sorted out for the chair," Austin said.

"And you?" I couldn't help but ask.

Austin's lips pulled back into a grimace and he glared pointedly at the space above my head. He lifted his shoulders in a tense shrug. I stared up at him for several seconds before wrapping my arms around him. Austin squawked and pushed away from me.

"Geez, quit it with the hugs! I've had enough to last me three lifetimes!" he whined.

I laughed a little at that. Austin looked around the room. He gestured to the door and said, "I need to get Gareth's stuff sorted."

Reluctantly, I dragged myself out of the room. I purposefully left the door open behind me and considered it a small victory when I didn't hear it slam close.

I grabbed my laptop from my room and relocated to the lounge. I opened up the browser, closed the tab on various sizes of fish tanks and settled down on the couch. I pulled the card Rachel gave from my pocket and frowned at it. Carefully, I typed the name of the institution into the search bar and waited for it to load. Once multiple options were spewed onto the screen, I popped my earphones in, put my music on and started scrolling.