Page 81 of French Escapade

I’m about to deny it, and then I decide to own it. If what she’s blaming me for is never sharing anything with her, it’s time for me to lose my bad habit of locking it all in and keeping stuff for myself.

“Oh, my God, Ted, my brother is actually a human being and not a heartless robot!” she teases with a smile.

A human being, just like her. Except that, unlike her, I’m not a weathervane. I need more than five seconds to switch from end-of-the-world sadness to childlike merriment.

Ted starts driving again, while keeping an eye on us in the mirror. “We’ll be there in two minutes,” he informs us.

While looking straight forward, Madison grabs my hand.

“Madison,” I tell her. “They are going to ask you a gazillion questions. You’ll answer as well as you can, but if at any time you feel that it’s too much, if you want a break, you just say so, okay?”

She turns to me and says with a determined voice, “It’s fine, I can do it. I’m solid. I can get through anything. I was lucky enough to be raised by a hero.”

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