The Cousins

In the summer of 1996, Allison listens as Dr. Baxter makes a house call for her mother. In the months following the death of Mr. Story, Allison notes that “Mother was suddenly hyperaware of her own heartbeat” (168), and Allison believes that her mother’s heart is simply broken. At Mildred’s insistence, Theresa has moved into Catmint House, where the Story family lives, to be closer to her. Mildred also begins to pressure Adam to come home more often in preparation to take over running the family business. The four Story children go into town for a party at Rob Valentine’s house, and as each of her brothers peels off from the group, Allison finds herself hanging out with Matt. Matt explains that he never called her house to schedule their coffee date because “everyone except [Allison] would hang up on [him]” (177) and perhaps his mother, Theresa. Allison invites Matt to join her on a walk outside, and Matt procures a bottle of bourbon from his jacket pocket to keep them warm on the unusually cool night. Matt “slip[s] an arm around her shoulders” (179) and leads her away from the party.

Jonah remembers how much money used to be in his savings before his father invested all of it into Anders Story’s “investment opportunity that was going to double everything [they] had” (181). Jonah reveals that he isn’t just a random classmate of JT’s: he is the son whose family lost everything they had in Anders’s bad investments. Jonah lost all of the money he had saved for college, and he intends to “make sure Anders Story stays cut off from his family fortune forever” (187). Milly and Aubrey stop by Jonah’s dorm room, announcing that he is coming with them to talk to Hazel and her grandfather. Jonah still worries that Milly and Aubrey will out him as a fake, but Milly promises that “[his] secret is safe with them” (185). Jonah, who was determined to cause a scene in front of Mildred, now realizes that he “[doesn’t] want to mess things up for [Milly and Aubrey]” (188) because he is starting to care about them. At Hazel’s house, Milly dodges Hazel’s questions by asking her own: what do people on Gull Cove Island think happened with their parents and Mildred years ago? Hazel shares a few of the more popular rumors, including an offensive rumor that involves incest among the siblings, much to the disgust and outrage of the cousins. When Aubrey comments that “[she’d] more easily believe they all killed somebody” (197), Dr. Baxter suddenly hits the table with his knee and starts feigning confusion. Jonah is the only one who notices that “Dr. Baxter had clear, alert eyes” (197) right up until Aubrey’s comment.

Milly goes to Donald’s office under the guise of wanting to learn more about his offer to get her and her cousins jobs working on the movie set. Instead, she asks Donald if he can tell her more about “what happened between [Mildred] and [Milly’s] mom” (202). He declares that he “would never violate [her] grandmother’s confidence [...]. It’s not only morally wrong but also illegal” (203) since he is Mildred’s lawyer. Later, Milly and several other Towhees go to Dunes in hopes of catching Chaz, the bartender, who plays guitar for the 80s cover band performing that night. Milly notices Jonah, who has been drinking like the rest of the teenagers, is being flirtatious with her. She feels conflicted: Jonah is cute, but he is also supposed to be pretending to be her cousin, and “it still feels weird, and a little wrong” (205) to notice how attractive he is. As the 80s cover band winds down for the night, the lead singer announces that they will be playing one more song at the request of their guitarist, Chaz. Chaz, who appears to be intoxicated, says that “this one’s for [his] family” (209). The band starts to play “Africa” by Toto, a song that Milly and Aubrey both recognize from their childhood as one of their parents’ favorites. Milly has a sudden revelation, and after the song ends, she corners Chaz and calls him “Uncle Archer.” She then asks if he was the one who brought her and her cousins to Gull Cove Island.