The Reaping (Steinbeck and Reed, #2)

by Jess Lourey

He took a deep sniff. He liked the way the forest smelled in autumn, like God had scrubbed it with maple syrup. And it wasn’t just its smell. The crisp fall air felt closer somehow. All up inside his clothes and hugging him.

courage came at garage-sale prices when there was a mom and a light switch nearby.

Rannie and his brother used to be as close as a container to its lid,

Harry was surprised by a surge of warmth toward her. Their personalities were orange juice and toothpaste, yet there was something true about her. Something pure. It was her intelligence, her commitment to a case, certainly, but there was something else. She’d had a hard life, a childhood steeped in trauma, but rather than come out the other side bitter and wanting to punch down, she’d committed to protecting others.

She was seeing him. And rather than running away, she was calling the best part of him to step forward.

Maybe that’s what family was. Not the people you’d been born to but the people you’d do the right thing for no matter what it cost you. The people you’d risk everything to protect.