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Nova feels me staring and slowly faces me. I meet her eyes and I’m shocked by the resolution I see there. She’s not sad. She’s not angry. She’s not even disappointed.
She’s just… done.
“Why?” I growl out. She’s blindsiding me and it feels especially cruel because I didn’t have any sense of doom. None.
Normally, I can figure out where she is in a room just by following a feeling. I can interpret exactly what she thinks by a quirk of her eyebrow and whether or not that little sparkle enters her eyes.
I don’t know any language other than English and Nova—everything she is and everything she wants to be, I’ve somehow gotten into the habit of studying her.
Damn.
What is this bulldozer running over my heart?
“Adam,” Sazuki calls urgently from the doorway.
I glance up, stunned that Sazuki and Dejonae aren’t sitting around the couch with us. I have a vague recollection of the doorbell ringing earlier, but when did those two get up to answer it?
“You should go,” Nova says quietly.
I want to say something snarky. It doesn’t even have to make sense, it just has to convey my frustration.
But I keep my mouth shut.
Launching to my feet, I stomp to the door.
At first, I don’t see anyone.
Then I look down.
My gaze falls on a little boy wearing a backpack and a baseball cap. His dark hair is smushed on top of his head and he looks expectant.
Poor thing.
I hope he doesn’t hold on to that expectation too long. Someday, he’s going to meet a girl he thought he knew and she’s going to blow up his entire world. He needs to be freaking ready.
“Look, kid,” I snap, “I’m not buying anything.”
“I’m not here to sell anything,” the kid responds.
Then why the hell is he here?
I feel Nova come up to the door too. My entire body strains toward her as if it’s counting down the seconds until she disappears for good.
“What are you here for then, sweetie?” I hear Dejonae using her ‘teacher’ voice. She works at Sazuki’s foundation and has a great way with kids. Or so I’ve heard.
The kid lifts a scrawny arm and points it at me. “I’m here for him.”
“Me?” I balk.
The kid nods with all the seriousness of a criminal getting sworn into court.
“Why are you looking for Adam, hun?” Dejonae asks, bending over and clutching her knees to get on the kid’s level.
“Because,” the kid blurts, “he’s my dad.”
That’s not funny.
I glare at Nova. “Did you set this up?”
