My body flushes thinking of the last time we were together. How good it was. How good he is. His eyes are dark and angry. I haven’t seen that look in weeks.
“Hey,” I say, moving close. He doesn’t do the same.
“I knew better.”
“What?”
“I knew better than to let someone like you in my life. Everything we touch goes to hell. The minute I saw you in that dusty, weird museum I should have told you to run.”
A bubble of laughter surges in my chest. “That’s bullshit and you know it. You’ve done nothing to me but make my life better. I’m the one that broke all the rules. I’m the one that screwed up.”
He sighs and leans against the boulder, hand reaching out for my waist. “She’s making you leave, isn’t she?”
I nod, blinking back tears. “Today.”
He clenches his jaw.
“She won’t let me go to the hearing.”
He drops his face into his hands and rubs his eyes. “I didn’t want you there anyway.”
“I know.”
“Guys…” Jake says.
I lift my arms and he pulls me up. Dexter pushes my feet. A moment later he’s up on the rock with us and I’m surrounded by these boys that have changed my life so epically.
Arms wrap around me, intertwined. I have no idea whose belong to who, but they’re warm. Safe. I have no doubt they’re stronger than when I got here—just like I am, too.
Together we watch the sunrise, my sunrise, the one that ushered in the new life I got the chance to taste, even if it was just for this one, tiny summer. The sun may be the same but the Sons are not. And neither is the lost daughter they brought into the fold.
25
“Thank you for everything,” I say to Leelee. We’re on the porch of the office. My bag is in the car. My mother is impatiently sitting in the front and I just don’t care. My heart left thirty minutes before for the hearing in June Lake. The little bit left I have to give is for my grandmother.
“It was lovely having you,” she tells me, squeezing my hands. “I’ve missed having someone your age around.”
“So, we agree…one episode a night. We keep on the same schedule so we can talk about it.” We made a deal to keep watching Supernatural together. Just three thousand miles apart. “We have at least eight more seasons to get through.”
She laughs. “I hope I have that many years left.”
“Stop.” I give her a hug and it feels so good. So perfect.
“Tell Sierra I said goodbye.”
“I will, sweetie.”
“And you be careful. Don’t work so hard. Let Katie work in the office more.”
She squeezes my hand. “If we’re offering advice, I just want you to try to work things out with your mother—”
“I can’t—”
“Wait. I know what has been going on is rough. I don’t think she’s right. I don’t and I told her as much last night after you went to bed. But I do think you’re not the same girl that came out here. Use what you’ve learned to change your situation—maybe you can change her.”
I’m angry at my mother and there’s no room in my heart for her right now, but I love Leelee and I know she just wants her daughter and granddaughter to work things out. “I’ll try.”
Her eyebrow lifts skeptically but she doesn’t push any further.