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“She didn’t use Lawson to find her Think about it If you had a relative from Auschwitz and you wanted to find out if anyone else you knew survived, hoould you do it?”
Kaden’s gaze fixed on the dashboard, as he grew silent, then said, “Soedy with a lot of deaths, there’s some record of survivors for that sole purpose”
Abby flashed hi to make a call to GG’s friend, Alvarez, at the museum I don’t knohat their norive me whatever information I want over the phone”
“That randfather has one of these tattoos But how do you plan on getting his nu school hours and say, ‘Hey grandpa, let us see the permanent scar you carry fro period of your life, so we can dig up so-lost relatives and you can relive the horror of it all’”
Abby eyed him as she backed out of the driveway “If you must know, Mr Cynical, I already have his number
“You know his number? How?”
“I have it memorized”
“You memorized his Auschwitz prisoner number?” Kaden blinked at her in disbelief
“Yup” An irandfather’s ar up and someone you love has that kind of scar, and you’re told—warned—never to speak of it, not to ask about it or mention it, it kind of sticks with you You beco whatever scraps of his past over snippets of conversations It’s like telling someone not to picture a zebra in their head Once you tell theaps however you can—history lessons, pieces of the truth So, yeah, I uess it was too hard not to”
She glanced over at Kaden, atched her as she drove His eyes held a faraway look like he was a million miles away Underneath his carefree façade was another side of hi to know, and she found herself wondering what he was thinking In the blink of an eye, he turned to hisand the passing highway, the spell broken
“Kind of like when my mom had cancer,” he said “I was only eleven, and I was supposed to so but never talk about it It was the elephant in the room Always there Always obvious, but eren’t allowed to say it, which made you think about it so much more”
Glancing back at her, his eyes softened “Sometimes, I wonder if it would’ve been a whole lot easier had we all come out and talked about it If we had we said out loud, ‘Mo to lose her,’ and defined what that meant to each of us” He fell silent for a moment, then added, “Maybe my dad would have moved on by now Maybe he’d be better than he is”
Abby reached over and placed a hand over his, lending hiive in her touch He stiffened for ahis body closer as he stared at the passing landscape outside, lost in his thoughts
After adeal Like Abby’s heart hadn’t leapt from her chest into her throat Like the heat from his hand hadn’t interlocked so inti in the world
CHAPTER TWELVE