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“My mom, too.”
Lex snaps out of whatever reverie she just fell into, asking, “Yeah? What kind of books?”
“According to my sisters, smutty ones.”
Laughter echoes in Lex’s chest, making her slim shoulders bounce.
“Have you two exchanged recommendations yet?”
“No,” I snap, making her laugh harder.
“What about your mom? What does she read?” I ask with a smirk.
“Dystopian, sci-fi, fantasy, anything that has a female protagonist who saves the world.”
“Why?”
“It gives her hope. I guess it’s the same reason I read romance with happy endings. Just because it’s not our reality, doesn’t mean it couldn’t be for someone else. To see the fantasy play out for ourselves, we have to travel to fictional worlds.”
My hands stop. “Happy endings exist in this world.”
“I’m well aware. I used to provide them for an additional fee.”
I do my best impression of her eye roll, and switch legs again.
“That’s not what I meant.”
Using one of the Roses with all its petals still intact, I drag the head along the inside of Lex’s thigh, over her knee and up her calf.
Lex stifles a moan like she’s holding her breath.
“Breathe, Snow,” I soothe. “Let me make you feel good. Let yourself feel good.”
All at once her breath whooshes out of her. “They do exist, just not for people like us.”
“Peoplelikeus? Or us?”
“Both.”
“So we don’t get happy endings?”
“No.”
“And we don’t get happy beginnings?”
“I didn’t.”
“Do we get happy middles?”
She thinks about it for a second before asking, “What is happiness?”
Another thing Lex wasn’t taught.
“Happiness, like fun, is whatever you make it. It’s hard sometimes, but knowing how to first makes it easier.” If I didn’t have happy times with my family, I wouldn’t know how to find that happiness with them now.
“Teach me.”
“What? Happiness?”
