“I know.”
“You know?”
“Someone showed me your old Insta.”
I should be alarmed, but instead, all I feel is warm. “What else do you know?”
“That I would do terrible things to anyone who took Jitter from me. And I’m sorry. That must’ve hurt.”
“I didn’t cheat on her.”
“I wouldn’t have thought you did.”
“She gave me an ultimatum. Kick Zen out, or she was gone.”
“That was dumb of her.”
I actually laugh.
“How long have they been your personal assistant?” she asks.
I hesitate, but only briefly. I would’ve told Duchess in Hawaii. I can tell Sabrina now.
Worst case is she betrays me and I destroy her café.
That was supposed to be funny, but even in my head, it’s falling short.
“Zen showed up on my doorstep shortly after they turned sixteen. Said I was the last blood relative they were giving a chance to let them be who they were before they disappeared completely.”
“Oh, shit.”
“I barely remembered them from when I lived back east. Didn’t spend a lot of time with family once I left for high school—”
“Left for high school?”
“Boarding school.”
“That’s a real thing?”
“That is indeed a real thing.”
“Ew.”
I readjust my grip on her legs. “So Zen asked if I wanted housekeeping and cooking services in exchange for room and board while they finished high school, and it turns out it’s really hard to say no to a kid who looks like they fit in with the rest of the family about as well as I always thought I did.”
“They cook?”
“No. They’re awful.”
She laughs.
“Repeat that and you’ll disappear.”
“Do they clean?”
“Yes. Very well.”
She doesn’t ask anything else.
Doesn’t mean I don’t want to tell her though. “When I told Zen I’d send them to college, they informed me the only way they’d take my money was if they were allowed to pay me back.”
“By being your personal assistant?”
“Works out well for both of us. I forget to eat and shower when I’m in the middle of something, and they have an inherent distrust of the world at large. I give them a safe place. Honestly, they do the same for me.”
She falls silent, but she rests her head on my shoulder.
And I could walk like this for days.
Which is another reason I need to abandon my plans and leave.
Zen says they’ve never really fit in anywhere.
I’m not sure I have either.
It would be too easy to fall into the trap of thinking we could fit here.
I don’t know how far we’ve gone when Jitter stops and angles around a bush on the trail.
“Not today, Jitter,” Sabrina says.
Jitter whines and gives her the most pitiful look I’ve ever seen. Between the floppy jowls and the utter despair in his big brown eyes, there’s no question what we’re doing.
We’re letting Jitter lead.
“Hey,” Sabrina says while I turn off the path.
“Have to check it out,” I reply. “Someone could be hurt. Maybe Timmy fell down the well.”
“Timmy? Who’s Timmy?”
“You never watched Lassie reruns as a kid? Even I watched Lassie reruns as a kid.”
“What’s Lassie? Hey. Wait. Don’t—”
“Sorry, but when a dog tells me to go somewhere, and it looks urgent, I listen.”
I’m not sorry.
I’m delaying putting her down.
And Jitter is very insistent that we follow this skinny, snowy path through the pine trees and around larger boulders.
“There’s not a problem,” Sabrina says. “He just wants to go see something that we don’t need to see today. It’s getting dark. Seriously, we need to get back to the parking lot.”
“What does he want to see?”
“Jitter. Back on the trail.”
I tug the leash and retreat. “C’mon, Jitter. Before we both end up in the doghouse.”
He snorts, but he listens and heads back to the main trail.
“I feel you, buddy. I’ll bet it was something good.”
Sabrina sighs. “It’s just my grandparents’ old house and yard. You can kinda see it through the trees.”
I squint into the growing dimness and spot a single light twinkling beyond the trees. “They still live there?”