LOGINI narrowed my eyes because I had no answer.There was no sarcasm sharp enough for that sentence. No sweet, poisonous comment I could throw without hitting something inside myself. So I did the most mature thing I could think of.I looked at Theo’s slippers, which had already been spiritually destroyed. “You need to go home.”Zach blinked once, and then he smirked. “Home?”“To your brother’s house.” I pointed at him from head to toe. “You’re dirty.”He looked down, as if only now noticing that his black T-shirt was stained with dirt, his jeans were muddy at the knees, and Theo’s slippers had lost the right to be called Swiss goods.“Fair point.”“A miracle. We agree.”“I’ll shower first.”“Good.”“Then come back.”“No,” I said.Zach was grinning now. I hated how the mud did nothing to ruin him. Another man would have looked like he’d lost a fight with the yard. Zach looked like the model for an expensive perfume campaign conceptualized by a woman with father issues.“I haven’t had dess
YAYYYYI stared at that one word for too long.Yay.Of course.Because there was no other way to welcome the weekend except with three capital letters, four extra letters, and the possibility of emotional collapse within the radius of my own house.In front of me, Max was still attached to Zach’s leg, punching the man’s thigh with two small fists full of mud.“The obstacle can’t move!”“I’m not moving,” Zach said, holding the ball in place with one foot.“You’re thinking about moving.”“That’s legal.”“Not in my game.”Issa spun around them with the empty watering can in her hand, her lavender boots now more brown than lavender. Her hair had half come loose, one glitter clip missing from its original place and still sticking out of Zach’s jeans pocket like a tiny piece of evidence from a ruined kingdom.“I’m making a new rule!” she said.Max groaned immediately. “You always make new rules when you’re losing.”“I’m not losing. I’m improving the system.”“Your system is cheating.”“My s
Max had already found a new form of tyranny to impose.“Stand there,” he ordered, pointing at two stepping stones near the grass that sat slightly higher than the ground. “That’s the goal, but also the obstacle, but also the defender.”“That’s three jobs,” Zach said.“Because you’re tall.”“That’s not an answer.”“It’s a reason.”Zach stood between the two stones anyway. The man could have refused. Could have said no, or forced the game into something that made sense. But he only put both hands on his hips, looked at the wet grass around him, then nodded.“All right,” he said. “I’m the obstacle.”On the other side of the yard, Issa was already kneeling beside what remained of the fairy garden, now half destroyed. Her lavender rain boots sank slightly into the soft ground, her white sweater had officially lost the war against drizzle and mud, and she did not look bothered in the slightest.Princess, yeah... not surprising.That kid announced every week that she was the prettiest, most
I wanted to throw something, but I chose to eat.Lunch continued the way every lunch with Max and Issa did: not peaceful, but survivable.Max explained that Mr. Harris at preschool had called gelato ice cream, and that was “culturally suspicious.” Issa said Miss Harper’s lipstick had not been “commanding” enough for Spring Gelato Day. Zach listened to all of it like a high-level security briefing.“If the lipstick isn’t commanding enough,” Zach asked Issa, “what’s the solution?”“Red.” Issa nodded. “But not regular red. Red that makes people move.”Zach glanced at me.I pretended not to see it.Max placed a piece of asparagus on the end of his fork like a microphone. “I said SIUU during recess.”“I heard.”Max froze instantly. “From who?”“The state has eyes.”“Mommy has spies,” Issa said.“Mommy has Bianna.”“Same thing,” Max said.Zach held his water glass, his face looking very serious even though the corner of his mouth was betraying him. “Arsenal and SIUU don’t usually come as a
We entered the kitchen with... Zach taking off his denim jacket casually, a simple movement that somehow still managed to make God and every sinful woman on earth lose focus. And when the fabric slid down his shoulders, the edge of a black tattoo on his upper arm peeked out from beneath his T-shirt.I saw it, and it's enough to make something in my head jerk awake. A flash of last night. My fingers touching that line of ink. My mouth briefly pressed there.I froze for a fraction of a second. I had been drunk last night. I wasn’t supposed to remember details like that.So why did I remember?Why did it feel too clear?He moved toward Max, who was standing in front of the sink... then Zach walked to him and bent down to him.“Rinse until the soap is gone,” he said.Max wrinkled his nose. “I did.”Zach glanced at his hands.Max looked too. Soap was still stuck between his fingers. “Oh.”“Again.”Max didn’t argue. If I had said it, he would have demanded scientific evidence about soap.
“I didn’t invite you.”“I know.”“Good. So your brain still works. Now use it to go back to your brother’s house.”He lifted the paper bag slightly. “I brought dessert.”“I have a door.”“I can see that.”“I can close it.”“You could also let me in.”I looked at the paper bag. It bore the logo of an Italian bakery in Portland that usually required reservations for its cakes and charged prices that made sane people question the value of sugar.Then I looked back at his face. “No.”Zach put on a wounded expression, lowering his brows slightly and tilting his head like a man who knew his face had opened doors, dresses, and bad decisions before. Unfortunately, it had.“I haven’t eaten anything yet,” he said.“Tragic.”“I had something to take care of as soon as I woke up,” he said casually, as though there were nothing strange about him standing on my doorstep like this.“You should be taking care of your fiancée.”The words escaped before I could stop them.His smile didn’t exactly disap
Max finally got bathed, although the entire process involved him yelling like he was being torn by force from his former life. Issa was worse. She stood in the bathroom like a tiny queen graciously tolerating a coup, demanding that the water be “not too hot, not too cold, not too aggressive.”Now t
I stared at the little card for a few seconds too long.Then I let out a soft huff, set it down on the island, and forced my body to move.I transferred the kunafa to a white serving plate. Its edges were golden, the pistachios glinting, the syrup still clinging sweetly to the bottom of the box. It
By lunchtime, Oregon looked like an ad for a peaceful life written by rich people with standing appointments with their therapists.I pulled into the driveway still thinking about charcoal cubicles, white shirts, and the audacity of the universe for making my ex look like a very expensive inconveni
I let Ethan keep talking for another two minutes after the word done left his mouth, just so I’d have a legally defensible reason not to look at Zach.The second the meeting broke up, Claire pulled Tania and Arun toward the badge-access area to deal with temp cards, workstation permissions, and all







