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Wrestling some money out of my back pocket, I slip it in August’s palm. “Get me one.”
It’s not my son who replies, sweet as pie, “Of course, Ms. Lane,” before dragging my son away, both of them hurtling towards the ice cream van parked on the curb—because this town is that kind of town.
They’re barely out of earshot when Luna groans a laugh. “I swear to God, that boy is all my karma.”
Wiping my sweaty palms off on my thighs, I chuckle nervously. “He’s sweet.”
Luna shoots me a deadpan look. “He’s a menace.”
“A sweet menace,” I counter, the corner of my mouth quirking upwards.
“Exactly.” Shaking her head with a laugh, she turns to me. “So, Sunday Lane,” she says my name like she knows me personally, and it’s just as comforting as it is slightly odd. “I hear you haven’t gotten the warmest welcome.”
Gut instinct tells me she isn’t talking about our good friend Krissy but I brush it off as paranoia, shrugging. “It’s been fine.”
“Fineis a bad word in my house,” Luna confirms her son’s earlier proclamation, bumping her hip against mine. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
Ah, the sweet, familiar clamor of warning bells ringing in my head. “Oh?”
“But I didn’t wanna make you more uncomfortable than you probably already are.”
Don’t ask,something screeches internally, and is subsequently ignored. “What do you mean?”
“Full disclosure,” Luna starts, and my stomach sinks. “Cass is the closest thing I have to a brother. We talk a lot.”
Danger.Danger, danger, danger.
“I totally believe you. Y’know, about that story.”
Fuck my life.
“He told you?” God, the irony. Preaching about privacy to my face and being a goddamn hypocrite behind my back.
“No,” she insists, backtracking a second later. “Well, yeah. Technically. He told us about Sunday from Chicago and the article. It wasn’t that hard to figure out you’re her.”
Only one word registers in my brain, the rest of it sidelined lest I fall into a coma of mortification. “Us?”
To her credit, Luna does look slightly sheepish. “We’re not really a boundaries kind of family.”
Fuck my life again.
“I’m sorry,” Luna croons, fingers wrapping around my wrist and shaking slightly. “I’m really not trying to embarrass you, I swear. I just thought it’d be nice for you to know you have someone you can talk to. Someone who knows, y’know. And I figure since our boys are friends, we should be too.AndI like Willow a lot so the odds of liking you are high.”
Again, I only process one section of her speech. “You know my sister?”
“We met in college. I was taking night classes, she worked the late shift at the library. She helped me findThe Federalist Papers, I told her about all the spots around town that don’t card. The rest was history really.”
Right. Sure. They both went to Sun Valley’s local university. Who cares that they have, what, a six year age gap? Of course they both happened to attend at the same time. Of course, of all the small towns in the world my sister could’ve ended up in after fleeing Texas, she ended up here.
Of fucking course.
“I never knew about you, though.”
Even if she doesn’t say it, I hear the question—why?“We, uh, kinda lost touch for a while.” Because she had a life and a blossoming career and the future she always imagined for herself and I had a baby and too many mediocre, unfulfilling jobs and no time for anything else. But she always called on August’s birthday and on the last one, she told me about this job she was interviewing for and how if she got it, she’d be moving back to the friendly town she spent four years loving and… Yeah. I guess it’s fairly self-explanatory, what happened after that.
“Y’know,” Luna cocks her head, lips rolling together as she contains a snicker. “I’m the one who gave her this job. Guess I’m the reason you’re here. Isn’t that funny?”
Yeah.Hilarious.
