xa'

en filled with cement. I shove open the living room door, al

with suitcases and our apar

it all, wrestling a box with the hel

shoulder, dropping to the fl

day of her life. Her cheeks are bright and c

iming. Go grab your t

Moving where? And why didn't you tell me before I left this mo

y questions away like they're gnats. "Swe

tightens. "Where

. She motions me toward the couch, her eyes sudde

she admits, voice soft. "The tr

it harder t

when have you even been seeing someon

nt but forgot her lines. "I didn't know how to tell you." She

't moved past your father's de

't disrespect his memory like this," I

Alexa? It's been nine years. Nine years of

she's been carrying. For the first time, it hits me that maybe I have

urns and I

t it. I won't stop y

e. She hugs me so tight it

rt. You don't know h

y waving at the movers. "Go pack your

t feel heavy as I

ealize I've stopped breathing until the

cars, gardens trimmed to perfection. It looks like a

catching. "I didn't even think anyone could af

moved towns for me.

ke someone who belongs in a house like this. His smile widens when he s

," Mom says, h

teady. "Your mother's told

r. Jackson," I mumbl

"Please. Ju

es me swallow hard. It's no

of cars, paintings that probably cost more than our old apartment

Jackson says, gesturing toward a dining hall th

ls too good to be real. I sit beside Mom, watching

myself believe maybe

the doorway. "Ah, you'

ork halfway

tu

ro

ce carved into cool disinterest. But when his eyes land on me, his steps falt

Jackson announces proudly. "

brot

y pulse trips over itself

. Neither of us looks away.

t before?" Jacks

t feels like it

ys flatly, "I'm n

hoing down the hallway before a d

ron's... difficult. He hasn't accepted

ranger who saved me. He's not just the boy who sits

d at me just now? Th

y. "Don't worry about hi

chair. "I shoul

-" she

off. "We sit together a

before she

the memory of his footsteps leading me dow

into the wal

mine, his eyes burning with

-sharp. "My father marrying your mother doesn't make

houldn't care. I shouldn't. But it stings anyway, I

ove him away or demand why he's staring at

t another word, he disappears into a room,

to my chest,

is between us, it's