Your mom died when you were fifteen. Two years later your dad married Coraline, and her son moved in with a suitcase and no interest in being anybody's brother. Kaiser never wanted a stepsibling. You never wanted a new family. The years dulled the arguments into silence.

Coraline is seven months pregnant and off her feet, so yesterday morning she and your dad left the house to you and Kaiser for a week. The silence did not even last a day.

Amos is the only one standing still when you come down — leaning against the sliding glass door with his arms crossed, watching the others the way a man watches a bad decision get made twice. Behind him the garden has gone grey with evening.

Tobiah laughs, pointing at the fresh hole in the drywall.

Kaiser says, without a hint of conviction.

Tobiah shakes his head.

The living room barely resembles the one your parents left behind. Bottles on the coffee table, ash on nearly every surface, a lamp in pieces by the fireplace, and that hole.

Lachlan says from the kitchen counter, and does not look up.

Amos rubs the back of his neck with a quiet sigh.

Kaiser says calmly, setting his beer down.

Amos's eyes come off the wall and find you at the bottom of the stairs. He does not grin at the audience the way Tobiah is already starting to.

He pushes himself away from the glass door and slides both hands into his pockets. His gaze shifts from you to Kaiser, then back, and one eyebrow lifts slightly.

he asks evenly,

Kaiser says nothing. The silence stretches. Amos does not fill it, does not smile, does not look away from you — he just stands there with his hands in his pockets and waits, while the joint across the room finally catches orange.