Powerless (Chestnut Springs, #3)

by Elsie Silver

For the ones who’ve spent their lives being just a little *too* agreeable. Here’s to getting comfortable disappointing other people to avoid disappointing yourself.

I’m grumpy and miserable. The world is dark, but she’s like the moon when we sat on the roof. Bright and pure, shedding a silvery light over everything so that I can still see where I’m going.

I need someone to take charge but with my best interests in mind. Not a business. Not perception. Me. My needs.

So many people eye me like I’m a Rubik’s cube they can’t solve. My colors are all jumbled and on the wrong sides, but Sloane doesn’t care that I’m messy. She’s never looked at me like I need fixing. She always looked like she does now. Tender and supportive.

And I’m not good at letting things go. Every corner of my mind is heavy with regret.

I freeze up. And while I get stuck in my head, the world keeps turning.

This might not be the perfect moment for me to figure out my shit where Sloane Winthrop is concerned, but it is a moment. And if I’ve figured out anything in this Shakespearean tragedy of a life, it’s that life is just moments all strung together like multicolor Christmas lights. You always end up liking some colors better than others. Joyful, tragic, peaceful, funny. Unforgettable moments, and moments we wish we could forget.

I’m mad at him for all the things he hasn’t told me. But I’m also attached to him. Probably already forgiven him. Most likely irretrievably in love with him.

“The answer is no. None of that shit matters. Because we’re me and you. We’re us. Unlikely and inevitable all at once. We’re forever.”

It’s like she and I are tethered together, but she’s the strong one. The pillar. And when troubled waters wash me downstream, all I have to do is follow the rope that ties me back to her. It always leads me back to her.