Page 13

Vienna whimpers quietly and pulls my focus back.

"You okay?" I sign, my fingers sharp—automatic—before dropping both hands onto her shoulders.

She nods, then peers up at me.

"I caught it." She smiles.

I can't help but laugh, nodding as Lenny holds a sleeve of her sweatshirt between us and gestures toward V's knee.

"Here, use this."

I peer over at her, taking the fabric—slowly, cautiously—from her hand.

"Thanks," I manage, pressing the sleeve to V's cut. She winces, but it cleans up quickly—nothing a bath and a mermaid bandaid can't fix when we get her back to Mom's.

I ball the hoodie up and go to hand it back to Lenny, then hesitate when I see the red blood already settling into the fabric.

"It's fine," she says, taking it from me. She ties it back around her waist, where it must have been before. "Nurse, remember?" The corners of Lenny's mouth tip up, and I swallow down the visual.

Lenny.

God, it's been… a long fucking time.

I almost didn't recognize her with the short, jet-black ponytail.

But those eyes? I'd know them anywhere.

The ones I looked into during some of the best years of my life.

And the ones I still see when I think of the worst.

I don't even realize I've turned back toward her until she clears her throat.

"Oh, um…" I glance between her and my sister. "V, this is Lenny," I say, signing as I talk. Lenny watches my hands move like I'm doing some sort of magic trick she's trying to follow.

"Lenny…" Our gazes meet again. I hold mine there, steady on hers, as I finish—slower this time. "This is my little sister, Vienna."

Her lips part as she drinks V in, her eyes flicking between the two of us before she eventually smiles. "Hi," she says, waving.

V grins and waves back.

Lenny lifts her hand, and for just a second, I think she might sign something. My stomach drops, and I don't know why. But it doesn't matter.

Instead, she tucks a hair I must not have noticed behind her ear. "Tell her I'm sorry for literally running her over."

I press my lips together, then turn to relay the message, but I can tell Vienna's already read her lips before she even starts talking.

"She says it's okay," I tell Lenny.

Vienna signs again.

"It's not your fault. I wasn't looking where I was going, and my brother must have been too distracted to warn me because you're so—hold on a second," I stop her, glaring.

"I'm so what?" Lenny asks eagerly, forehead creasing.

V arches a brow at me, and I sigh, dropping a hand to my hip as I look at Lenny. My jaw ticks.

"Because you're so pretty," I say without hesitation, my voice steady even with the tension between my teeth.