Page 114 of Bound in Ashes

It didn’t matter. I refused to be deterred.

“When you said ‘don’t,’ what did you mean?”

“I meant don’t look at me like that. Like I’m broken,” he said.

I sighed, tilting my head.

“Jack, I don’t think you’re broken.”

He smiled the saddest smile I’d ever seen.

Grabbed the same wrist he’d held yesterday.

Kissed it.

“Yes, you do.”

He went back to the fence.

I wanted to contradict him.

Tell him that he wasn’t the broken one at all.

I stayed silent.

TWENTY

Jack

The next morning, I found Levi in the barn with the horses.

One of the things I would count on if I was dumb enough to count on anything.

Levi never mentioned it, but I saw how worn down he seemed. He still worked like a man thirty years younger, but Asia hovered over him, always making sure he was eating, resting, and just generally being overbearing.

He pretended not to like it or need it, but I saw that he had to sit more and was eating less.

But without fail, he came here every day, even though we all knew—he knew—he didn’t have the strength.

“Were you a drinking man, Jack?” Levi asked him when he noticed me.

“Nah,” I said.

“That’s surprising,” he said.

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not, Levi,” I said.

“Me, neither,” he responded.

Then he laughed and patted the horse softly.

“You know I was supposed to be a doctor?” he said.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah. My daddy was a doctor. A Black doctor when I was a kid was a big deal. He was king of every town we moved to. And we moved to many,” he said.

“Why?”