Colt stares at his daughter. His mouth opens and nothing comes out.
Lily turns to me."Are you going to be around? Like, for real? Is this what you want, to be with us as a family?"
My throat tightens. "I want to be. If that's okay with you."
She pulls at the hem of her shirt and wraps the thread around her finger. "My friend Maya's mom got a boyfriend and Maya said he tried too hard to be her dad and it was weird." She looks up. "You don't try too hard. You just... you're just here. You talk to me like I'm a person."
"You are a person."
"Yeah, but grown-ups don't always notice."
Colt hasn't moved from the chair. His face is wrecked.
Lily looks at her father. "I want her to stay, Dad."
Coltstands andcrosses the room. He puts his hand on Lily's head, and she tips her face up to look at him the way she's probably looked at him her whole life—waiting for him to catch up.
"Okay," he says. "Okay, Lil."
Finnappears behind Lily. He read the room or he heard enough."Hey, kid. Come show me how to make eggs that aren't grey. I need the help and you need to stop making adults cry before lunch."
Lily rolls her eyes but she gets up.At the doorshe stops and turns around.
"Ellie?"
"Yeah?"
"You'd fight about book endings with me, right? Not just agree because I'm a kid?"
"I'd fight you on every single one."
She nods like that settles it and disappears into the kitchen. Finn follows her, and the sound of his voice—"Okay so what's wrong with cumin?"—fades down the hall.
The room empties out to just me and Colt. He's standing in the middle of the room with his arms at his sides.
"I'm not going to Knox and Sarah's. I don't belong with them," I say.
"I know."
"And I'm not Maren. What happened to her isn't going to happen to me."
"You can't promise that."
"No. But I can promise I'm not leaving and I won't stand in your way to protect me."
He nods. Rubs the bridge of his nose where the glasses sit. When he looks at me his eyes are red and he doesn't try to hide it.
"The bite," he says. "I can't. Not yet. Maybe not ever. I need you to know that."
"I know."
"And you're still here."
"I'm still here, Colt."
"Ellie."
"Yeah?"
