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“You know what—I might be a superhero, but there is no question, Ryke Meadows is one too. And he’s standing right by my side, heaven and hell.”
me. I remember the day he turned eleven. He took a Harry Potter quiz, and he was sorted into a wizarding house. Maximoff Hale is a Hufflepuff. And he’s so goddamn strong.
“She’s still your mom. She loves you like you’re a part of her goddamn soul. Nothing has changed. It’s just something that she deals with like I deal with alcohol.”
“If I see you at the deep-end and you’re under the water for longer than ten seconds, Uncle Ryke is going to jump in, save you and give you CPR. Not the cute little lifeguard, so think about that before you start recreating a scene from The Sandlot.” Eliot drums his lips in thought. “At what age would Tom be allowed to do it?” “When I’m dead and buried.” Lo pulls his sunglasses down. “And if you start plotting my death, remember I have friends in hell.” Eliot and Tom smile. They’ve always liked Lo.
And Kinney—she’s the only one who really opens her eyes. She looks up at Lo, and he kisses each of her chubby cheeks. I’ve never seen my little brother love anything more than he loves his children and his wife.
Off my stunned silence, Moffy says, “I know I’ve been…distant but…” His gaze drops to the paperback. “My dad said that I can love you and him at the same time, and I want you to know…that I do.” I rub my eyes, tears just sliding. Moffy wipes his with his forearm. “And…thanks.” “For what?” His tears fill to the brim. “For taking care of my dad.”
I have everything I’ve desired. I have him. I have them. This dining room breathes life the way that I only imagined.
“I’ve always loved winning, but I would lengthen the time it takes us to reach the end, just to spend one more second with you.”
There are many truths in life, but as I stand opposite Rose across a table with our many beautiful children, I wield one that I condemned for years on end. I’m in love. With so much more than just myself. This truth will never fracture.
We all laugh together, and mine transforms into an overwhelmed smile. I look to Ryke, but I can’t do anything but nod at him—you know those moments where you’re just so full you can barely breathe? So full of feelings you only hope to meet. They crash against me like freefalling. Like cliff diving and bungee jumping. Like screaming at the top of my lungs. Like one hundred and fifty miles per hour. All with Ryke Meadows.
And I kiss the most beautiful fucking thing on this Earth. Her smile pulls one from me, from the dark, lonely crevices.
Luna Hale might not have any friends outside of relatives, but she has more confidence at eight years old than I did when I was twenty. Never ashamed. My daughter is never ashamed.
How’d he get his bike over there? “Okay…” I trail off, my gaze drifting to the doorway where Loren Hale stands. I’m instantly distracted by him. Cheekbones that cut like ice. Eyes like liquid scotch. He’s much more than an alcoholic beverage, and he knows it. Lo flashes his iconic half-smile, and he says, “Never trust a bunch of Hufflepuffs to do a Slytherin’s job.”
“These years have been epic, and not because it was easy—because it wasn’t always—but because you and me, we flew.”
I always turn to him like he turns to me, and we’re not enablers. No one says that we shouldn’t be together. No one tells us to split apart. Our souls are still wound together, still wound tight.
“You know what I tell your brother?” I take a deep breath, remembering the conversations I’ve had with Ryke. “I tell him, ‘Lo’s ice in the winter now. He won’t melt.’” His eyes redden, welling, and he says, “Thanks to you.”
“Lil,” he whispers, wiping my face with his shirt. “Why are you crying?” “Because I don’t have anything for you.” He laughs at me. “It’s not funny,” I cry but that morphs into a tearful laugh that rattles my heart. Lo kisses my cheek, smiling, and he whispers, “You’ve already given me everything, love.”
I laugh and cry simultaneously again. As we watch our kids, joy coating their faces, childlike wonder in their eyes, I remember every moment I spent with Lo where we said we can’t. Where we said we shouldn’t. Not people like us. This isn’t meant for us. I realize something. So I tell him. “I think we finally deserve this.” Tears spill out of his eyes, and he says, “I believe it, too.”
I know in this world there will never be another Connor Cobalt. I want to say that he keeps me smart, but he’s done so much more than that. He loved me at my lowest—when I thought no one else but Lily could love someone spiteful like me. He always saw beyond my addiction, beyond the angst and the hate—I never had to explain. He just knew me. I needed that kind of friendship, and I think he knew that too.
She snorts into a short laugh. “One day I have a soul. The next day I don’t. Make up your mind, Loren.” You have a soul. I think it instantly. Without question. Without doubt. Rose has possibly one of the best hearts in this house. In her lifetime, she’s done incredible things for people. Not just for her sisters, but people. Hale Co. has more female executives than it ever did, and she did that.
My humor fades, and I float through decades. As kids, as teenagers, as adults. Staying up late reading comics, sneaking to parties—all the plans we never made in college. All the lies we told. I touch these memories. I can go as far back as I want, to the gravest depths. The past can’t drag me under. I relive the better parts that are intertwined with bad. Because I look back and think, Christ, we were so goddamn fragile. Look how far we’ve come. Look at us now.
I’m proud of Daisy. For never listening to me. Or her mom. Or her dad. I’m goddamn proud of Daisy for becoming the woman that she wanted to be.
Daisy sits between Ryke’s legs, back against his chest, his arms wrapped around her frame. Their eyes touch the horizon. I take a seat on the grass only a few feet from Ryke, and Lily plops next to me. I hold her as she holds me, her cheek resting against my shoulder. My eyes fix ahead, and I try to see what my brother sees in the sky. Orange colors that melt into blue. My gaze breaks when Connor walks outside, hands in his pockets until Rose reaches him. Side-by-side. He laces his fingers with hers, and their heads turn. So does mine. To look back ahead. Just as the sun rises. With the six of
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And I’ll think: just yesterday they were twenty. Headed for college. Falling in love. Memories will flood behind us, the lake house no longer filled to the brim. As quiet as the moment we first walked in—and we’ll sit on this hill. Feeling the stillness that exists. And then we end—we end where we started. Just us. All six of us.
