That’s random.
That’s too random.
That’s—holy shit.
Aunt Applebee and Uncle Five Guys are secretly having an open marriage because they can’t stand each other or their dear child Little McDonald.
“His parents’ marriage—” I start, and then the most beautiful thing in the world happens.
Chandler Sullivan squeaks in actual fear.
He squeaks. And he shrinks. And he goes red in the face. “Shut your—” he starts, but I take a menacing step toward him and he shrinks even further.
“Leave, or we will completely and unequivocally destroy everything you’ve ever loved,” I growl. “And for the record, I’m starting right here. There’ll be bees. So many bees. Bees everywhere.”
“I’m fucking leaving, you douchebags,” he snarls. “There’s nobody here worth knowing. Your numbers are uneven, and fuck you all.”
True to his word, he storms to the front door, flipping off the entire room of people.
“Somebody take Addison’s phone,” the third triplet yells.
“I’ll sit out,” Sabrina tells Iris. “Grey, just drink out of the carafe. Hey, you all remember that year the fairy lights short-circuited on our statue of Ol’ Snaggletooth and we thought his head was going to burn?”
A few people titter nervously.
Someone gasps.
I assume that’s Addison being tackled in the corner and having her phone taken away from her.
“Well, can’t say this won’t be the most memorable speed dating event the Tooth has ever seen,” Sabrina says. “Who wants to be the person talking about this at their wedding? Somebody’s falling in love in here tonight, aren’t they? Hey, Bitsy, wanna hit the timer? Iris, call it for us, yeah? Let’s go!”
Voices pick up again around the room.
“Go go go,” Iris calls while she pulls the door shut behind Chandler.
“Have fun tonight,” Sabrina says softly to me. “Good luck.”
“Wait—” I start, but she doesn’t.
Instead, a perky blonde leaps between us.
“Hi,” she says. “I’m Oakleigh. We haven’t met. You were supposed to be at my table, but I thought I’d just come to you.”
I try to smile at her, but I can’t.
Not while I’m watching Sabrina head through the kitchen, knowing she’ll be slipping out the back door and off to god only knows where in this town.
“Sorry,” I murmur. “I have to go.”
And I do.
I stood up to Chandler.
I did what I came here to do.
But I think there’s something more that’s my real purpose here.
Something bigger.
Something terrifying.
But I’m about done with being afraid. It’s time to put Super Vengeance Man to bed, and start being Super Grey instead.
Just me.
All by myself.
Doing my best and taking a leap of faith.
30
Sabrina
I smile through telling Zen that I have to go because my mom says Jitter has diarrhea, which I know they know is a lie. Then I sneak out the back door without a word to Grandpa or Mimi, who are sitting at chairs at the desk in the kitchen, leaning in to each other and talking faster than I’ve heard Grandpa talk in ages.
It’s not fast—Grandpa doesn’t do anything fast, and I don’t think Mimi Cartwright does these days either—but it’s faster.
I catch phrases like three kids and favorite grandson and so hard to lose my sister.
Like they don’t want to waste a minute and they’re jumbling up every bit of catching up after nearly seventy years apart in half an hour.
Pretty sure they don’t even notice that I’m leaving.
I slip and almost wipe out on the icy asphalt, but I finally reach my car at the very, very, very back of the lot. Just as I’m sliding into the driver’s seat, though, the passenger’s side door opens, and Grey lets himself in.
My heart thumps in utter panic. My fight-or-flight instincts decide freeze is the way to go.
And then something even worse happens.
Two tears slide down my cheeks. “Go away.”
“You told me about your mom and your grandma so we’d be even when Mimi got here. So I could use it against you.”
“You’re very dumb for a mathematician.” He’s damn brilliant, and he doesn’t belong here.
Not because we don’t have smarty-pants residents, but because he’s not built to run a café or a kombucha bar. He’s built to solve puzzles and manage beehives and use that brain to fix the world’s problems.