Page 174 of The Way the Heart Breaks: Jade’s Story

“For the whole week?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

I shrug. “It makes mornings easier.”

I don’t tell her the real reason. I don’t tell her I started doing it after I lost the boys. I needed something to do with my hands, something I could control when everything else felt like it had been ripped out from under me. Cleaning. Organizing. Making lists. Lining up clothes for the week. Anything that kept me moving and kept me from sitting still long enough to think about what I had lost.

Somehow, over time, it became comforting.

Kendall picks up a shirt and holds it against herself. “This one?”

“Monday.”

“And this?”

“Tuesday.”

Within minutes, she’s looking at the little piles we’ve made. “You really do this every week.”

“Every Sunday.”

“That’s kind of weird.”

“Never said I was normal, Kendall.” I laugh.

“Let’s do mine next,” Jake says.

“Boys don’t organize outfits by days,” Kendall scolds him.

Walking out of the room, he says, “If girls can be MVPs, boys can lay out clothes for the week.”

I look at Kendall as I stand. “He does have a point.”

The sound of tires on the gravel pulls both of our attention from Home Improvement.

Kendall hops up. “I think they’re home.”

Then I hear the car door slam and flinch as I stand.

“She’s pissed,” Ry says with a yawn. “My cue to head home.”

Alex chuckles. “Mind if I come?”

Ryan looks him up and down. “Why now?”

“Why now what?” he asks, far too defensively, and I laugh because I know why. Phoebe Maxwell is why.

“Mmm-hmm,” Ryan says as he follows behind me.

32

LA, LA, LA, LA

Tommy

Feels weird driving into town. Normally, I park at Lucas’s and ride with him to school. Today’s not a normal day.