Page 26 of One Second After Another

So sure.

And true.

God.

Penny dragged in a quick breath. “You didn’t scare m—”

“Yeah, I did,” he interjected again, seemingly unbothered that he kept interrupting her. “Sorry. It was kind of funny, though.”

She couldn’t help the smile fighting to get out. He was quite the kid. It only killed her more.

“You know they’re looking for you, right?” Cross asked.

Penny wet her lips. “How do you know that?”

“Uncle Luca came back. I heard Papa say he was lying. There was a lot of yelling.”

“You call him your uncle?”

Cross lifted one shoulder covered by a leather jacket that looked strikingly like one his father would have worn years ago. The children’s Doc Martens on his feet matched the whole vibe. The one thing he didn’t have was the slicked-back hair, but the wild strands of his black hair looked better all crazy anyway.

“He’s my godfather, too,” Luca added. “So ...”

Penny knew.

“And you’re supposed to be my godmother.”

“Yeah, I am,” she admitted quietly.

“Supposed to be,” the boy said again, “because you’re not here. You never were. And even though everybody else knows you, I don’t.”

“You knew me. Just for a short time.”

That didn’t satisfy the boy at all.

“Yeah, well. Not the same.” He sighed hard, glancing through the trees at his house when he said, “I like it out here. I’m not supposed to go past the trees, but ... well, I do what I want.”

Penny laughed under her breath. “We all do.”

“Not like me.”

What did that mean?

“You’re smart, aren’t you?” she asked.

Cross pressed his lips together as he considered that before saying, “Yeah, but not like my papa. Different.”

“How?”

“He’s ... smart-smart, you know? Numbers, and books, and things. All the things. Universe stuff. I see people and just know.”

Penny’s brow dipped. “Know what?”

Cross looked back her way, those soul-deep brown eyes of his piercing and apprehensive and knowing when he replied, “Well, everything, Penny.”

She thought ... no way.

“Really?”