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"He didn’tHe was still shaking, and looked unsteady on his feet

Lia forward to brace his elbows against his knees "Doesn’t h for the sun to disappear behind the trees, and then below the horizon The silence and stillness between us becahtly down the length of knobby bones between his shoulder blades

Lia to look at me "Do you think he’s okay?" he whispered

"I think we should probably go check," I said

I don’t knoe made it back to the cabin, only that e arrived, Chubs was sitting on the porch, silent tears streay written there, the wretched guilt, and was surprised to find my heart could break even that bit more

"It’s over," he said as we sat on either side of hi time

TWENTY-FIVE

IT SHOULDN’T HAVE SURPRISED ME that Liaenerous a from the others for his mind to refocus on the camps I sat by his side h possible ways of breaking through caestions here and there as they discussed how to bring up their ideas with Clancy

The thing about enthusiasm--especially Lia There would be nights I would si, as he became more andto shape his ideas out of the air for the rest of us to see His words were coated with such unyielding hopefulness that it visibly inflated everyone around him By the end of the first week, interest in the project had spiked to such a level that we had to s out of our small cabin, to the fire pit Nohen Liam went anywhere, it was alith a loyal pack of kids around hi to catch his ear

Chubs and I were less enthusiastic about getting back into the swing of things He forgave me, maybe because a miserable person can only stand to be alone with theirHe never went back to work at the Garden, but that girl, the bossy one, never ratted him out, either

I went back to lessons with Clancy Or at least tried to

"Where is your head at today?"