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Part way through what must be our tenth game of Twenty-one, Kate’s phone rings. I catch her eye, reading her expression. Neither of us have Christy’s gift, but there’s a pretty good fucking chance that’s Cleveland with some news about Rodriguez.
“Excuse me for a moment,” Kate says, pushing back her chair and striding from the room to take the call. She’s gone less than a minute before returning with a grim look on her face.
“We need to go.”
“Harris find what he was looking for?”
Kate shakes her head. “Yes and No.”
“What do you mean?” I press, but she flicks her gaze at Christy and shakes her head. “We have to go now.”
“I don’t want you to,” Christy says, her voice quiet as she places her cards on the table and rests her hands on her lap.
Kate crouches down beside her and grasps hold of her hands. “I know. I’m so sorry.”
“I hate this,” she cries, a little sob escaping her throat as she throws herself into Kate’s arms, almost knocking her off her feet.
Kate pulls Christy tighter into her body. “We’ll be back to visit soon.”
“Not soon enough,” she replies, clinging onto her for dear life. Eventually she pulls away, swiping at her tears until she’s standing in front of me.
“Alright kid?” I ask, looking down at her, my fucking throat tight as she looks back up at me in a way that makes fear creep up my spine. I’m not afraid of her, but I am afraid of what she knows because whatever it is, it clearly ain’t good.
“I told Kate this, and I’m going to tell you the same thing. Your story, yours and Kate’s, it has ahappyending.”
“That’s a fucking relief,” I say, my smile slipping from my face when her expression remains troubled.
“But it was never going to be a smooth path to get there. Epic love rarely is,” she says, sounding more like a wise old woman than a twelve year old girl. “There will be a lot of obstacles, some the two of you will overcome together and some with the help of others. When it comes to those people, trust your gut because it already knows what your head and your heart have yet to discover.”
“Christy, maybe you shouldn’t say any more—” Kate says, but Christy cuts her off, taking Kate’s hand in hers.
“Everything you do,” she says, looking between us both, “Is because you care about each other, about the people you love. I know that.”
“Do what, kid?”
She shakes her head, tears welling in her eyes. “Ican’tsay.”
“It’s okay. Don’t sweat it. We’ll figure shit out,” I reply, even though I’m far from fucking calm as my heart pounds and my guts churn.
“Whatever it is you’ve seen, whatever it is that you know, none of that should be a burden for you,” Kate adds. “I hate that it is, and if I could take that burden from you, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
“I know, and that’s why no matter what I’ve seen, Iknowyou’re a good person,” Christy says, her bottom lip wobbling as she tries so hard to hold in more tears threatening to fall.
Kate looks at me over Christy’s head, her gaze filled with worry as my skin breaks out in fucking goosebumps. What else has this kid seen?
“Christy, I—” Kate begins, but what can she say? How can she respond to that?
“I’ll still love you no matter what,” Christy adds fiercely. Then sighing, she squeezes both our hands in hers. “Just have faith that everything will work out in the end, because itwill.”
And despite how fucking weird this whole thing is, her words hit home. I don’t have to dig too deep to find out that I do have faith. I have faith inthiskid’s ability to see things no other fucker can, in my love for Kate, and in our story that’s turning out to have way more twists and turns than any fairy tale Kate has ever read.
