Page 60 of Lost and Found

“Was there anything else?”

“Hmm?” He’s distracted scratching Cali’s chin.

“You said there were a couple things? Didn’t sound like you were done.”

“Oh, ah, yeah.” He heaves a breath. “I know what I want to add to your list. For my thing this summer. Or fall. Fall is fine, too. Winter. It doesn’t really matter, I guess. It’s more of an open-ended goal.”

I wait patiently and sip from my mug.

“The group meetings,” he says. “I want to keep going. I want to—keep trying to make friends, I guess. A couple times a year, they do some sort of group activity together. Labor Day weekend, there’s this hike and a campout.”

“I can go with you,” I volunteer, doing some quick mental calculations. Even if the stars align and I have a successful transfer on this first go, come Labor Day, I’d still be super early along. I’d be done with progesterone by then and wouldn’t needto worry about any more shots, either. “As long as I’m feeling good and everything, I’d love that.” I like this, making plans with him.

“Yeah?” he asks.

“Yeah, why not,” I say. “I wouldn’t call myselfoutdoorsy, but I can handle one night with you.” Obviously not . . . or, at leastnot well, but I don’t need to point this out. And look at me, making a joke, acting like everything is normal and like I couldn’t sketch the image of his head thrown back and his neck tendons pulled taut by memory.

His mouth clamps shut like he’s caging a comeback.

I let my mouth and eyes fall wide open. “Wow, Silas. I’m really proud of you for passing that one up.”

He gets up and heads for the door, Cali bounding after him. “Go easy on me, Red.”

I wait until he’s a safe distance away, when I hear his footsteps hitting the stairs. “You, too, please. You go easy on me, too.”

CHAPTER 23

Now

Silas

“Will you drop it, Ellis?” I hear Micah’s voice say when I let myself in Ellis’s front door.

“I just don’t want you to default to firefighting,” says Ellis. “If it’s not what you really want to do.”

I stifle a groan. This conversation has been circling repeatedly, ever since Micah decided to start doing volunteer work at the station to get his foot in the door.

“Once again,” Micah says. “I spent my twenties chasing baseball. Anything else isgoingto be a default plan.”

“Well, then you don’t need to be in a rush to jump into the work. Get your EMT training and—”

“Iam, Ellis. But I’m pushing thirty. I want to work, now.”

“Youareworking,” my sister chimes in. “You’re not just, like, languishing or something.”

Micah growls out a sigh. “Sage, I love you, but I’m not going to be your flower-delivery boy for the rest of my life.”

“I never said I expected you to be!” Sage cries in time with Ellis saying, “Watch your tone.”

“All of you, shut up,” I supply, making my grand entrance. All three of them roll their eyes at the same time. Look at that, I fixed it. They’re united in something once again.

“I agree with Silas,” Wren says, sliding a bowl of chips onto the counter beside some sort of dip. I help myself to both.

“And that is why you’re my favorite sister,” I joke, even though I’m huddling Sage into a one-armed hug as I say it.

“HEY!” Fisher yells, and Sage and I jolt in unison. I turn to where he’s loitering by the kitchen and see him pointing a pair of tongs at me. “Be. Nice.” He snaps them in warning.

“What the hell,” I whisper to Sage, who’s gone bright red beneath her freckles.