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He smiled sadly Soinning to end He hoped he could hear the entire story without crying…or putting his fist through a wall "I’ently

"You won’t o, you know And they’ll be…daed Some of them

They probably won’t like us er on the tip of her nose "What’s not to like?"

EPILOGUE

Kara sat down at the kitchen table so around was definitely trickier than usual She’d never been so heavy in her life So clu, because she probably couldn’t fit through the front door of a lot of her old targets by now Slow as she noas, she’d probably trip the alar the front door

She poured Garyhe wouldn’t ask for seconds

It was ae of city scular who could crack any lock and bypass any security system, didn’t know her own ovulatory cycle In the warehouse closet, on Jared’s--their--living rooone to see Thonant Two hed like a loon when she’d told him, then kissed her on the mouth and ied to Babies R Us like a , and Gary looked up at her questioningly "I was thinking about so about Jared"

Gary nodded and kept eating He had no comment to add and Kara didn’t expect one Gary was shtmare of too many burns and broken bones He didn’t talk much and tensed whenever Jared--or any adult round her teeth in silent rage for what the child had been through

Jared knehat it meant, too and did his best not to startle the boy Since the aroo on uppers, that wasn’t always successful But in the three weeks Gary had stayed with theradually relax, even around her husband

The boy had stopped eating, she noticed and atching her silently She poured herself another glass ofyolk from her plate with a piece of toast No wonder I’ht with in inward chuckle "Gary? Did you want to ask …will I stay here?"

"Well" She considered the answer carefully "Your stepfather will go to jail And your et you back"

"Like stop drinking?"

"Like that and so is, she really really wants you back Shebad things to you"

"I didn’t tell her," Gary whispered

Kara nodded "But the way the judge looks at it is, she should have figured it out, you know? That’s why you have to stay so awfully hard, Gary, only it’ll take tie has to be sure, absolutely sure that you won’t be hurt in her house anymore And it’ll take a while for her to follow all the rules so you can live with her again I would guess you’ll be with Jared and me for at least six months" She paused "Is that okay?"

Gary nodded

"Because if you would rather stay somewhere else, that’s totally okay and Jared and I won’t be mad, I promise You don’t even have to say it to me, you could tell your case worker--"

"I like it here," Gary said casually and stood to put his cereal bowl in the sink Kara was cheered that he’d felt confident enough to interrupt her She started to get up to put her own plate in the sink when she heard the crash of Gary’s cereal bowl hitting the tile

All the color drained froed away from her "I’m sorry!" he cried "I didn’t mean to!"

"Hey, Gary, relaaaaaaaaaax," she said casually, inwardly wishing the boy’s stepfather would stop by just long enough for her to break all his fingers "I drop stuff all the ti deal"