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My smile widens. We watched a romantic comedy last night, and Zack says it just like one of the characters. He’s been on his own for so long, with onlyDadfor company—okay, not alone, but worse than being alone. He has to learn any way he can. I admire my little brother.
“I feel like what I said in the hospital was true. We’re going to be there for you, and I know Jamie. He’s determined to keep his promise.”
Zack meets my eye with a dreamy smile. It’s difficult to think of how Jamie described the night they escaped, holding the knife, ready to do Dad’s bidding before he decided to cut Jamie loose. It’s hard to think of all the terrible things Dad did. To me. To him. To Jamie. To everyone.
However, Jamie handled that problem. I’ll probably never say this aloud, but I’m happy he did it. Not just relieved that he made it out okay. Not just glad he’s alive.
Happy he killed Dad. Does that make me sick? I don’t care.
If Jamie’s taught me anything, it’s that I can’t judge someone based on what the world thinks. The entire world, including me, thought he was a killer. However, it didn’t stop him from writing his books, honing his craft, and getting ready to support us when the time came.
“I think so, too,” Zack says.
* * *
“Where are we going?” I ask as Jamie drives through the suburbs, moving from the mid-tier houses to the bigger ones. He drives past them, stopping in a small, well-kept park, far more upscale than my area in the city.
“What do you think about this neighborhood?” Jamie says, reaching over and tucking hair behind my ear, causing tickles to shimmer over me. “Can you imagine raising a family here?”
I look around at the clean streets. At the end, a few kids are playing hockey on skates. A little girl and her mom sit in a nearby garden, with another girl running around chasing bubbles.
“Yeah, easily,” I tell him.
He leans close, breathing huskily in that just-Jamie way. It reminds me of countless memories of the past few weeks, a thousand secret intimate moments.
“One day, I’m going to buy us a house here. That’s why I wanted to do it here.”
“Do… what?”
Shivers dance over me. He leans back, smirking, looking stylish with his new haircut, clean on the sides and longer on top. He’s letting his beard grow a little, a layer of silver, giving him a sophisticated look in certain lights and a savage look in others.
“Let’s go for a walk.”
He climbs from the car, walking around my side. The car’s new, bought with the money from his first advance. He’s been negotiating, telling me he learned to take care of himself in prison. Taking my hand, he leads me into the park. He leads me to the corner. There’s a large concrete play area.
“The kids are allowed to draw here,” Jamie says, nodding to a few doodles in chalk. “The rain washes it away. Where I grew up, they would vandalize this place instantly, but not here. People respect it.”
He takes both my hands and stares down at me with that unflinching passion in his eyes.
“I love you, Lucy,” he says, “and I can’t wait to work my ass off to get us a place here. A place to raise a family.”
I throw my arms around him. “I’d go anywhere with you. You know that. As long as we’re together.”
He squeezes me. “Zack wants to show you something.”
“Zack?”
We turn and see him walking up the lane with Juliet, the social worker. Zack’s got his skateboard under his arm.
“Hey,” he says, smiling in his usual friendly, awkward way.
“Hey, Zack. Nice to see you.”
Juliet strides forward, placing her hand on my arm. “It’s not official, but we’re close, Lucy. We’rerealclose.”
I beam at Zack, his head swimming with all the emotions.
“I’ve been practicing a new trick, sis. Do you want to see it?”
