“She was fiercely independent. A fire in her I knew she got from me, but she was gentle. Where I’d swing a fist, she would… talk it out. She loved to talk.“ I lean my head down, a playful smile pulling at the corner of my lips. “Like someone I’ve recently met…” Her elbow meets my arm, but she doesn’t say anything. “When she was sixteen,” I continue, not wanting to find some excuse to stop. “She went on her first date. I hadn’t met the guy, she begged me not to do a background check—” I shift uncomfortably. “I always did one on all her friends.” I can tell Max later about my world under the one
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