Page 65 of One Breath After Another

“Saying the truth.”

“But?”

“Without details,” he said, defeated.

She only shrugged.

Fair was fair.

Her godson might have card tricks of his own—although being able to read people at his age was way more amazing than just a card trick—but she had a few, too.

Cross shook his head. “Uncle Luca told them you were different.”

That made her pause.

All over.

Penny turned to stone at just the mere mention of Luca. She had been content to come back to this place, say goodbye and hope, and then leave it all behind if that’s what came of her choices. She’d forced herself to stop thinking about the people she kept leaving behind, too. Sacrifices had to be made, after all.

That didn’t stop it from hurting.

Cross observed her in silent stillness, waiting for a reply from her that wouldn’t come. It couldn’t. “He likes you a lot, too.”

Penny’s throat flexed when she managed to ask, “What?”

“Uncle Luca. When people miss things—things that mean something—their eyes change. More distant. Like they’re looking at something far away. Something I can’t see. You did what he did when he told them he found you. But you did it now because I talked about him. See, same thing.”

This kid was ... something else.

She also couldn’t afford to stand there and keep talking to him even though every single molecule in her being wanted to do exactly that. He was amazing. It took a single conversation with the kid to realize just how much she had missed out on where he was concerned.

“I really should go,” Penny said, moving a step deeper into the forest. The same way she had come.

The shout from behind her made her next step hesitate.

“Cross! Get back to the house, son! Time to eat!”

14.

Luca

BEING ten minutes late wasn’t anything unusual for Luca, but tonight wasn’t the night for his tardiness, and he knew it. It was why he tried his very best to sneak out of the lecture for one of his college classes—he had dropped down to two classes a week that only required him to show up two days a week, the rest could be done online—but that hadn’t worked out. Instead, he ended up getting another lecture from the professor about the importance of education and wasting the time of others.

Like he needed to be told.

Again.

By someone else.

So, all his efforts to arrive early—if not on time—for his best friend and sister’s baby shower was for nothing. Because the world seemed to enjoy having a good laugh at Luca’s fucking expense. Every step forward he made was greeted with a kick right back in his former place.

Sort of.

No one seemed to notice Luca arriving late when he stepped inside the mansion where Roz and Naz’s families decided to have the party. He could also tell, just with a quick look at the people milling in the grand entry, that he wasn’t technically late. The quiet murmurs and the way people turned to stare his way expectantly only to shrug and go back to their conversations said the guests of the hour had yet to arrive.

So, he was on time.

Kind of.