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Reid nodded, visibly taken aback by Mom’s candor despite my having told Reid about it time and time again.

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you.”

Chapter 20

Taking A Back Seat

REID

Istaredupatthe mountain peak that Mia had told me about in awe. Regardless of how much it looked like sugarloaf, whatever the hell that was, it was incredible in its own right. The streets below teemed with life in a way that New York didn’t. Where New York was the central hub of work, Rio’s streets were a mass of color, music, artists, and so much more.

Every corner played home to musicians or spray paint artists, groups of people enjoying themselves together. I couldn’t remember the last time my senses had been so viscerally accosted, and yet, I breathed it in.

Because beside me, Miaglowedwith joy.

Her long, flowing dress billowed around her as we walked together, the vibrant greens and pinks and blues of the material making her look as if she’d stepped out of Brazilian soil itself. It was such a contrast to the neutral tones she preferred to wear in New York. Perhaps she thought it made it easier for her to blend in, or the clothes she wore here would remind her too much of home. As much as I wanted to take in the sights and truly appreciate everything Rio de Janeiro had to offer, I found my gaze drifting back to Mia almost every time.

“What do you think?” she asked, turning that megawatt smile on me and almost knocking the wind out of my lungs.

“Sorry, I wasn’t following,” I admitted. I’d been admiring the glow of her skin, how the gold at her ears and wrists were nothing compared to her skin.

“The gondola.” She giggled, and I swore there had to have been something different in the air in Brazil. “Do you want to try it?”

I shook my head a little distractedly.

“Whatever you want,” I finally said.

Mia rolled her eyes and grabbed my wrist, tugging me into the queue waiting to get tickets. “You’ll love it, I promise.”

I took her word for it.

Just as she’d suggested, we’d arrived a little before sunset and the sweltering heat of the day slowly cooled as the sun sank toward the horizon. We stepped onto one of the gondola cars and the doors slid shut behind us, and Mia dashed over to the nearest rail.

“Look!” she said, pointing at something I wasn’t looking at.

Because I was looking at her.

“What?”

“There,” she insisted, tapping the glass with her fingernail. “Now you can say you saw Christ the Redeemer.”

I tore my gaze away from her face.

Indeed, we could see Christ the Redeemer from our little gondola.

“It’shuge,” I hissed.

Mia chuckled. “That’s what I said when I saw the Statue of Liberty and you told me she was, and I quote, okay.”

“That’s because everyone’s seen the Statue of Liberty,” I pointed out. “Growing up there, she kind of becomes something of a lawn ornament, you know? A garden gnome, if you will.”

“How can you say that about Lady Liberty?” Mia demanded, aghast. But her eyes shone with mischief, knowing I was kidding.

“How can you say Christ the Redeemer is, and I quote, meh?”

She dissolved into a fit of breathless giggles, and it was all I could do to hold onto the rail.

Somewhere in the pit of my stomach, a brand new kernel of fear emerged.