“Zain thinks I kissed him because he saved me.”
Joyce says nothing.
“He’s wrong.”
Saying it aloud settles something inside me.
I know exactly what I feel.
The question is what I am going to do about it.
Chapter 6
Zain
Thepreliminaryfirereportsits open on my kitchen table, but I have stopped pretending to read it.
The cabin is too quiet, and I am more aware of that than I should be.
Kaia said she was meeting Joyce after class. That should be the end of it. She is an adult, she has plans, and staying under my roof does not give me the right to wonder when she will come back.
Headlights move across the front windows, and I look up before I can stop myself.
A knock follows a few seconds later.
When I open the door, Kaia stands on the porch with the paper shopping bag from this morning looped over one wrist. Joyce is beside her, keys in hand.
“One fire survivor returned in mostly original condition,” Joyce says.
Kaia looks over her shoulder. “Mostly?”
“You complained about my driving the entire way here.”
“Because you treat road markings like suggestions.”
Joyce smiles at me. “Good night, Chief.”
“Night.”
She points her keys at Kaia. “Call me tomorrow.”
Her eyes flick briefly toward me, then back to Kaia.
“With details.”
Kaia closes her eyes. “Go home, Joyce.”
“I will.”
Then she heads back to her car.
Kaia watches her leave before looking at me.
“She is exhausting.”
“But you love her.”
“Unfortunately.”
