Page 583 of End Game

I don't open the rest.

Not yet.

Maybe not tonight.

Dex reaches for the phone, then stops before touching it. “Can I?”

I hand it to him.

He turns it to full silent and puts it facedown on the table.

Nobody says anything.

The house is quiet around us.

I can hear Dex breathing beside me.

Cami sniffing once and pretending she didn't.

I feel Griffin's thumb move slowly across my shoulder.

Ronan shifts his weight until his knee rests against mine.

Four people still here.

Four people who know exactly who I am.

It doesn't make my mother stop crying.

It doesn't put the family chat back on my phone.

It doesn't put me at Aunt Rachel's table next Christmas.

It doesn't give Elijah or Abigail a safer family if they ever need one.

Yesterday, I had all of them.

My parents.

My aunts and uncles.

Cousins I've known since they were born.

Christmas.

Birthdays.

Summer barbecues.

A cross beside a door I never had to wonder if I was allowed to walk through.

And this.

Dex.

Cami.

Ronan.