She nodded. “Yeah, it’s a tree.”
“It’s not just any tree. It’smytree.”
Confused, Paige stared at the large tree. The branches were huge, long and thick. In elementary school, she’d learned about the different types of trees, but she didn’t remember a damn thing. The only word dancing in her brain wasoak.
“Back in the day, I spent hours up in that tree, hiding,” he explained. “I’d take a book with me and sit up there until the streetlights came on.”
Paige smiled, imagining Andrew as a kid running home so he wouldn’t get in trouble. “Did you ever not make it home in time?”
“All the time. And I paid for it, believe me.”
“Did you have a lot of friends in the neighborhood?” she asked.
Shaking his head, he said, “Not really. I had some. But I was kind of a loner. I still am.”
Paige was a loner, too. She’d thrived in solitude, practicing Shakespeare and reciting poetry in front of her bedroom mirror.
They started their walk again. He showed her the path he and his brothers would take to the corner store and the huge rock they used to draw on in the summer.
“In the summer, we’d run through the sprinklers to ‘get wet.’” He chuckled softly. “Mom couldn’t swim, and she was scared of deep water, so she didn’t let us go to the pool when we were small.”
She frowned. “Wait, who taught you to swim, then?” They’d been to the beach several times, and Andrew was an excellent swimmer.
“I took a class at the community rec in high school, paid for it with money that I’d saved up mowing lawns and shoveling snow.”
“Wow,” she said. “Impressive. You were a hard worker, even as a teenager.”
“That was nothing but my mom. She worked so hard, all the time. We had no choice but to do the same. She’d always say, ‘If you want to eat, you have to work.’”
Andrew pointed out another house—the candy house. He shared a story about how he’d saved up money to buy the little Fun Dip candy. But when he got to the candy house, some of the neighborhood kids jumped him for his money.
“Oh no,” Paige said.
“Connor beat the shit out of them. Then he took me to Old Man Hennessey’s house to learn how to box.”
Paige enjoyed hearing him talk about his youth. She enjoyed hearing him talk at all. He was so strong and pensive. Hearing him share a piece of his childhood with her made her feel special, like he was giving her another piece of himself.
“Did you always want to leave Detroit?”
“Not always. The block was a safe haven for us. It was a community here, family. Everyone looked out for each other. It was different in the city back then,” he said.
Although Paige’s mother had grown up in Detroit, Paige had never lived in “The D.” She’d visited sometimes, but hadn’t had the chance to really explore the area. She hoped to be able to do that someday, because it was a part of her history.
To her right, she heard a young girl on her phone, talking about boy drama. She watched the girl as she rambled on about a Halloween costume and an upcoming dance at school.
She met the girl’s gaze for a brief moment and smiled at her.
The girl gasped. “Oh my God.”
Oh my God is right. Because Paige had just been recognized.
The girl ran up to her. “Oh my God,” she repeated. “You’re Paige Mills.”
Paige glanced at Andrew, then back at the girl. She placed a finger over her own lips, silently telling the girl to keep it quiet. Then she nodded.
The girl squealed, then smacked a hand over her mouth. “Oops. I’m sorry. My name is Paige, too. We’re twinsies!”
“Right?” Paige laughed.
