Chapter 48

“I sure did.” Locke cocks his head. “I heard no complaints.” 

The room promptly loses its collective mind. Jade giggles as she pours me a coffee, Hawk misses an easy shot at the pool table, Brick mutters something that sounds suspiciously like legend. 

I close my eyes. “I’m moving away. I’m thinking New Zealand.” 

Dad’s laughter is low and warm, and when I open my eyes, the teasing is still there, but so is something else. Relief. Pride. Happiness that he isn’t hiding quite as well as he thinks he is. 

“Despite that nasty bruise, you look better today, sweetheart,” he says. “You look good, actually.” 

I do, and I know that I do. I saw it in the bathroom mirror as I was powdering the bruise on my cheek, in a pointless attempt to cover it up. I look lighter somehow, as though a door inside me opened overnight and I finally remembered there was air on the other side. 

“I feel better,” I say, taking a sip of coffee.