Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 665(@200wpm)___ 532(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Xander winces. “Uncle Ryke?”
Kinney shoots him a look. “He only has one brother, doofus.”
“Kinney Hale,” our dad reprimands.
“Sorry.” She frowns. “I mean, dingus.”
Xander laughs, and this makes Kinney smile.
“You were lured to the dark side,” I mention quietly. “By your father…our grandfather.” He’s no longer alive, and of what I’ve heard, I’m glad I never really knew him.
Dad doesn’t break my gaze. “I might’ve been lured, Luna, but I was still there.”
Most people say that Loren Hale is sharp like a dagger. But I’ve always thought my dad is more like a lightsaber. Wielded only against enemies. Boiling hot, able to strike right through and cauterize the wound so you’re forced to look down and see what he’s done.
And I believe he’s good.
He uses his Force to protect those he loves.
“Are you ever scared you’ll be lured back again?” I wonder.
Mom tenses more.
He blinks a few times, studying me like he’s wondering if I see him, and I’m wondering if he sees me.
That’s the thing about perspectives, I suppose. We never really know if ours is the most accurate—or even if it’s the fullest. In the end, it’s just one viewpoint hovering over a billion other layers that’ll likely never touch.
His chest rises. “I—”
“Nononono,” Kinney says rapidly, her eyes instantly welling.
“What?” Mom tries to look but traffic has started moving. “Lo?! Is she hurt?”
“Kinney?” He unsnaps his seatbelt to turn further in his seat.
“I think it was something on her phone,” I tell them.
“High school is worse than middle school.” Her voice breaks, and she throws her phone at the back of dad’s headrest. It bounces off and hits her in the forehead.
No one laughs because she crumples into her hands, distraught.
Xander quickly puts aside his half-eaten Gordita.
“Kinney.” I splay over her in a hug, and I’m surprised when she holds on to one of my hands.
“What happened?” Dad asks sharply, like he’s preparing to confront Dalton’s administration.
I shift backwards off her as she hoists her head.
She rubs at her watery eyes, smudging mascara. “I was going to ask Courtney Sherber to Homecoming, but Maddison Yankton beat me to it.”
Yankton. That’s…Jeffra’s little sister.
“There’s no one else I like at that stupid school. She was the best—is the best girl—and now she’s taken by Maddison.” Kinney cringes while trying to restrain a sob, her breath spiking.
“Take a breath, little Slytherin,” our dad says more gently, concern knitting his brows.
Kinney tries to breathe more deeply. “This…always…happens.” Her voice pitches with her breath again. “They always…leave.” Her exes, Viv and Holly, moved to entirely different states, and those preteen and early teenage losses have stuck with Kinney.
I offer my Baja Blast to my sister. She takes a sad slurp, but this seems to help Kinney catch her breath.
“Courtneys might come and go—but you know what’s better than a Courtney?” Dad digs into a bag. “A chicken taco.”
I nod rapidly, and I smile when I realize Mom is doing the same.
He tosses the soft taco to Kinney.
It thuds on her lap. She tries to unwrap it, but falling tears wet the paper. “I don’t have a date, Dad. Audrey, Vada, Nona—they’re all going to have dates! And I’m going to have no one at Homecoming.”
Xander puts a comforting hand on Kinney’s shoulder. “I don’t have a date and I’m still going, Kin.”
“You’ve been asked out five times already,” she glares tearfully. “You don’t have a date only by choice. I’m the loser—”
“There are no losers in this car,” Dad decrees. “We’re Hales. We’re—”
“Not winners,” Xander notes.
“We’re awesome,” Mom says strongly.
“We are ah-mazing,” I sing-song off-key.
Xander smiles behind me and then nods to our sister. “You can go with me.”
“I’m not that desperate.” She sniffs hard and tries to toughen her softness. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Who do you want to drive you there?” our mom asks them.
“I still might not go,” Kinney mumbles.
Xander picks up his Gordita. “Can Donnelly drive me?”
Our dad stiffens, and his sharp gaze flits to me before he rotates to face the road.
Xander doesn’t seem to notice. “It’s a school function,” he continues. “So Donnelly has to be there anyway, and no offense, I really don’t want to show up with my parents. I’m a senior.”
Mom smiles back at him, proud of his independence, I think. “That’s great. Isn’t that great, Lo?”
“Mmhmm.” He’s stuffing his mouth with tacos.
The rest of the drive to my childhood house, it’s hard to think of anything else but Donnelly. When my mom parks in the driveway, Kinney quickly hops out and bangs the door shut.
“No slamming doors!” Dad calls out to her.
She hugs her arms around her tiny body while trudging up the steps to the front door, and Dad seems to regret being harsh.
Xander leaves next with a hefty bag of signed books, collectibles, and D&D dice. Plus, he has three poster tubes tucked under his arm. “Thanks for the merch, Mom.” She braved the busy vendor halls for him. “You’re the shit!”