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“You took a shoith her?” Maximoff asks suddenly

“No,” I say “I took one after her” At least I’ree feels like he’s her fifty-year-old father grilling my ass

So I step out of their faces, and we all head for the same place The rental cars where Oscar, Charlie, and Akara still talk

On our trek, Farrow plucks a leaf out of Maxi?”

“I saw that,” Maxi to suppress a smile

Farrow keeps s pace, Farrow cups the back of Maxi each other affectionate smiles

They have that storybook love

What I used to call sentimental, sappy romance when I was a kid

Attainable for only few Like my Cinderella brother

Maybe I thought of love as a storybook because it seerasp because I’d trip before reaching the door

And the love I saw as a child was destroyed by a toxic divorce One that ripped through my family like shrapnel Soed underneath my skin

Storybook love

Now that I’m older, I know it’s just another word for soul mate What the lucky feill find in their lifetime

At least my brother found his

I look up at the star-blanketed sky Wondering if I should ask a higher being or my other brother if I’m meant for more

My other brother

I alh me in a nauseoushead

“You okay, Banks?” Akara asks as we come up

I ut For more than one reason If I even mentioned the na about

No one except Jane would

The death of otten So buried that it never even leaked online when Thatcher got more famous

Me havoc on me

I love that Jane knows about him because I never had to vocalize the story Never had to drudge up the history Thatcher did all the work, and I reaped all the benefits

Having soht off my chest Some days it’s even a comfort

Right now—staring at Akara—the second pit in my stomach is heavier

I kissed Sulli

“Yeah, I’ lot