Quan considered Khai for several long seconds before saying, “Are you ready for the death anniversary next weekend? Talking about him might help. You never do.”
Khai fixed his attention on the sock on the floor. “I did. At Sara’s wedding.”
Quan released a heavy exhalation. “Yeah, I heard about that. I should have been there with you.”
“It’s not your fault when I hurt people,” Khai said.
“It’s not yours, either.”
Khai shook his head at his brother’s insensible logic and focused on the sock again. He should pick it up, find its mate, and stick them in the laundry together. It was distinctly infuriating imagining his socks journeying through the house separately. They were designed to be together.
Unlike Khai. He was meant to be a lone sock. Lone socks had a place in this world, too. Not everyone had two feet.
“When’s the last time you ate?” Quan asked.
Khai lifted a shoulder. He couldn’t remember. “It’s okay. I’m not hungry.”
“Well, I am. You’re going to eat with me.” Quan got up and padded into the kitchen. The fridge opened, plates clattered, silverware clanked, and the microwave hummed and beeped. Soon, they were eating together on the couch as Quan flipped through TV channels until he found a program where ticker symbols scrolled along the bottom.
Khai hadn’t brushed his teeth, showered, or shaved, and he was fairly certain he was a psychopath, but sitting there with Quan, things seemed better. Eating with his brother and watching TV while sick felt familiar, and fuzzy memories flickered in his mind.
Maybe he really had been in this same position before, but as for the rest of it, the broken-hearted stuff, he couldn’t bring himself to believe it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Early the next week, when Angelika went to take the GED exam, Esme went, too. She didn’t need a GED and had no one to impress, and a high school diploma wasn’t going to help with her work. But the cost hadn’t been horrible, and she’d done all this studying. She told herself she did it to set an example for Jade.
But deep inside, she knew she did it for herself, too.
Unconsciously, she’d been studying for it this entire time.
Usually, she couldn’t do things because the opportunity wasn’t there, and the worry persisted that maybe she couldn’t because she just wasn’t good enough. Maybe all rich people were rich because they deserved it. Maybe she was poor because she, too, deserved it. But now the opportunity was right here, and she wanted to see.
What happened when you gave someone an opportunity?
Later that week, she still hadn’t figured out how to solve her visa problem, and the determined fire in her heart had banked. When she got her transcript in her email inbox, she opened it with resignation.
The contents put goose bumps on her head. She checked the name three times to make sure they hadn’t made a mistake and sent it to the wrong person, but no, the name was unmistakably Esmeralda Tran.
Under every category, it read: PASS GED College Ready + Credit. She’d achieved perfect scores across the board.
Did this mean she was smart?
It did. The proof was right here on her phone. Her heart burst with pride—in herself, for a change. Well, she wasn’t very smart. Just a little smart. Most people graduated from high school here. But that was more than she’d ever dared to dream of. This country girl had a high school diploma.
This was important. This meant something big. But her mind was too busy with this explosive happiness to grasp it all.
Her phone buzzed a few times, and when she looked at the screen, she saw she’d received text messages from Angelika.