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Rory didn’t know where that had come from. Except she knew what it was like to not fit. And for no one around you to try and make room for the way that you were. She knew what it was like to feel just a little bit off. To not even have the capacity to be a statistic, because she was far too strange.

And it would’ve been nice if somebody would’ve just gotten to know her. Would’ve taken the time. To see that she was more than quiet and awkward if she had time to warm up. That she was more than glasses and scrawny limbs and tripping over her own feet.

It would’ve been nice if somebody would’ve tried to rearrange themselves a little bit, so she didn’t have to do all of it.

Maybe that was what he needed. To not have to try to jump to reach people’s expectations. The expectation was that he was a man who wanted a parade. He could be a man who deserved one, and not have one. He could not want one. It didn’t mean there was something wrong with him. It just meant he was different.

“Hopefully I’ll see you around Sullivan’s Point.”

“We have to do dinner in Mapleton before you leave. Something to celebrate.”

“We will. I’ll text you some days and you can tell me what works best for you.”

“Sounds good. Then I can make a reservation.”

“Okay.”

She separated from her friend and walked toward her sisters, who had already headed back toward the car. It made her sad to think about how Lydia didn’t feel close to Gideon.

She had always felt close to her sisters, even though she was sort of the odd one.

And she supposed she should be thankful for that. She hoped that moving away from them wouldn’t dampen that closeness.

“I don’t want us to lose touch. Because I need to be with the people who can tell me I’m not being a drama queen even when I feel like I am. It seems important.”

“You’re never going to get rid of us. Not that easily,” Fia said.

“I don’t know. I’m the beige sweater of the Sullivan family.”

Fia laughed. “That is ridiculous. You are not the beige sweater, Rory.”

“John didn’t evenremembermy name.”

“Well, what does that have to do with you? That’s about him.”

But she wanted the people around her to see her differently. So it didn’t matter why. She decided that tomorrow she was going to devote a portion of the day to her list. And she was going to tackle it in earnest. Because it was important. When she was alone, she took it out again:Throw a tantrum.

All right, maybe that one wasn’t especially aspirational. But she was a little bit disappointed by how not dramatic her earlier tantrum had been. She was aiming for reinvention, and that reinvention was going to start here.

CHAPTER SIX

GIDEONSIGHED, feeling weary.

The whole experience with the parade had been fucking awful.

The worst part was being in the middle of the crowd and feeling like you were on a different frequency. He could see the people around him, lit up with excitement and glee, and he could not bring his own internal frequency up to match their energy. Couldn’t make himself smile when he didn’t feel like it. He couldn’t find Gideon Payne. Not the one that these people knew.

Maybe he’d been an idiot coming back here, but he honest to God hadn’t known what else to do. His family was here. But even they seemed a little bit unnerved by him. Off-put. He supposed it was fair enough.

Lydia had called last night and he hadn’t answered. He felt like a dick but he was burnt out on people right now.

He’d just gotten done placing a big order for zip line equipment that had been complicated and had required him to get on the phone with customer service and he just...didn’t want to deal

And now he had to hire a manager.

He could only hope that he managed to meet all his financial goals so that the budget held together. Because if he had to do all of this himself, he just didn’t know if he’d last.

He’d thrown himself into the deep end here. But he had an anchor. He’d rather do this than twist around drowning in the shallows—and God knew he’d been close to that.