Gatsby doesn’t know this yet, but I know what it’s like to not talk to your siblings. My sisters, and I don’t speak, and I am familiar with the distance and the wide space that it can create between you and your childhood. There are so many memories that connect these people.

You can’t imagine your childhood without them. They are the only ones who truly understand how crazy your parents are. So when you are grown, and you don’t speak or don’t have a relationship with them, it is as if these memories and emotions and feelings are shelved. Boxed. Put away in a safe. Locked in some room without a key.

Looking at Gatsby laughing and carrying on with his brothers, I start to really miss my sisters. I want us to have a reconciliation or, at least, a conversation. All the things that I am mad at them for, all of our arguments, now seem so insignificant. I try to remember the details, but even those are vague.

I have two sisters. The three of us used to be very close, but then we started to grow apart in high school. When our mom got sick, we came together again. We all came to visit, and in the end, the three of us practically lived there. Our dad left when I was two, and my sisters were five and seven, so it was just the three of us in the end. But then, after the funeral, things fell apart again.

We lead different lives in different cities. After mom’s death, we promised that we would call and email, but quickly reverted to our old ways. I called too much and got mad when they didn’t return my calls. They got mad when I didn’t send them any gifts for their birthdays and holidays.

We all had our excuses. They said that they texted and emailed instead of called. I said that I didn’t have any money to buy groceries let alone gifts. We were all wrong.

We promised to meet up for the holidays, but when one cancelled so did the other one. Old resentments crept in and took the place of the love that we had once felt for one another.

But now, seeing Gatsby with his brothers, I have an overwhelming urge to call them. To try to make things right. Maybe even take them sky diving.

Back at the lodge, Gatsby goes downstairs to the business center to get some work done. Only this place would have a business center in the middle of the wilderness! I have an hour to myself and I decide to take a bath. I haven’t taken a bath in ages, and I’ve never taken one in a bathroom like this!

The space is bigger than my apartment back home. The toilet is sequestered to one side, and the rest of the space is taken up by the spacious two, or even three, person shower and the giant claw foot tub. There’s a floor-to-ceiling window looking outside into the setting sun. The pines look like they are hanging their heads, kneeling before the sun.

Somewhere in the distance, I see a small round creature rolling across the horizon. I lean in closer and block my eyes from the harshness of the sun.

It’s a bear!

Oh my god! I can’t believe my eyes. A bear? A real bear!

For some inexplicable reason, I turn off the water to see better. When I look up again, the bear is closer, and now I am certain. Except that it’s not just one bear. There is a little one and the big one right next to him. They are wandering across the grasses in front of the window, going from one section of the forest to another.

The cub makes a summersault. And then another one! His mother looks back at him patiently and waits. I can almost see her rolling her eyes and laughing to herself! I can’t believe that I am privy to this! It is amazing! I’m astounded!

When they finally disappear into the other patch of pine trees on the other side, I sit on the edge of the bathtub in awe.

Eventually, I come back to my senses. I turn the water back on. Then I remember that my iPad is in the other room. I turn off the water again, wrap myself in my bathrobe, and head out to retrieve it. I need to take my mind off of everything that’s happened today. And there’s no better cure than to watch something mindless to space out in the bath.

I thought that the iPad would be in the main bedroom, but it isn’t. I can’t remember the last time I used it, but it must be in my bag, which is the dining room.

In the living room, I hear voices.

Someone is shouting. Who can that be? I thought I was alone. I look around and see that the double doors to the porch are slightly open.

Atticus is on the porch, talking on the phone. He is pacing, walking from one side of the porch to the other in a circle. He is waving his arms around as if he’s trying to convince someone of something. As if the person on the other end can see him.

I’ve never seen him like this. Wyatt seemed like the more exuberant and excitable brother to me. Atticus was always calmer, more collected.

He’s facing away from me, so I can’t really make out what he’s saying. I don’t know what comes over me, but for some unknown reason I take a few steps closer to the door.

Suddenly, his words become clearer.

“I don’t know what you want me to do,” he yells into the phone. “I’m only going to get the money when the IPO goes through.”

“That’s all I can do,” he says after a moment.

“Okay, okay, I know. Yes, I know the juice is running. But I can’t get the money from anywhere else. If you want me to pay you a few grand at a time, yes. But not if you want the whole thing. Do you want me to pay you a few grand at a time?”

“No? I didn’t think so!

“I don’t understand what you don’t understand. The only way I can pay is after the IPO.”

I take a step forward, and the floorboards creak. Shit! I walk away from the double doors and grab my iPad.

“Annabelle?” Atticus says, walking into the room.

“Oh hey.” I avoid eye contact with him and pretend that I didn’t hear a word.

“Agh, girlfriends, they’re impossible. Am I right?” he says. He’s as pale as a ghost.

“What?”

“I was just on the phone with my girlfriend, and I don’t know if you heard me. Sorry if I was shouting.”

I stare at him. I hate it how some guys have the tendency to insult women to other women’s faces and then ask for their approval.

“Yeah, right,” I mumble.

Atticus shifts his weight from one foot to another and doesn’t look me in the eye. Now, I know for sure that I had no business hearing that conversation.

“I didn’t actually hear anything, I just came out to get my iPad,” I assure him. He smiles, looks like he believes me.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you around then.”

I watch him leave.