Page 144 of String Boys

Craig shook his head, his face growing gaunt. “Don’t,” he begged. “This has been a rough week for all of us, Seth.”

“I could go to jail,” he offered softly. “I could call the police and tell them everything. I could not have this hanging over my head anymore. Whatever happens, Matty, Isela’s dad, Castor’s father—they wouldn’t have this to hurt our family anymore.”

Craig shook his head and wiped his face with the back of his hand. “No.” That was all. “Just… please. No.”

And Seth couldn’t, not against his father. Not against Kelly. Not now when everything hurt, from his broken leg to his pulverized heart.

“Someday I’m going to have to—”

“Please.”

Seth sighed, and felt his eyes closing, and wished that maybe they’d stay shut forever. There just didn’t seem to be any point to waking up right now.

AMARA ANDSusan checked him out of the hospital—his dad was there to say goodbye, and so was Kelly’s mother.

But not Kelly.

Seth wondered bitterly if Kelly thought that would make it hurt any less.

Susan had already sublet his apartment—to Vince, because Amara had been offered New York too, but Vince was still in San Francisco.

“I’ll come with you,” Amara said brightly, shouldering Seth’s carry-on and his violin as his father wheeled him out. “We figured we’d do the bicoastal thing for a year, because their trumpet player is retiring, and Vince is on the shortlist for auditions.”

“But what if—” Seth had never been the one to ask that before, but Amara just shrugged.

“Then I come back here and teach and find gigs, and Vince keeps his job. Or the other way around.” She touched his shoulder then, so softly he realized, all in a heartbeat, this was for him. Entirely for him. They were sacrificing a year of their lives so Seth wouldn’t have to move to New York alone. “We’ll find a way, sweetheart. We’ll all find a way.”

“We’ll get him a gig in New York,” Susan said, exhaling vape fumes even though she hadn’t puffed in the hospital even once. “I’m no kind of agent if I can’t getthatkid a job.” She dropped her head and spoke in a fake whisper loud enough to make everybody in their party laugh. “Just looking at him blowing on a trumpet makes my panties wet. If I didn’t like Amara so much, I would have eaten that boy up in a gulp. Me-owr.” She made the time-honored cougar gesture, and Seth managed a small smile. She wouldn’t—he knew that. She didn’t sleep with clients. In fact, she was known for her ethics on an international scale. Gianni had told him that when he’d given Seth her number out of sheer frustration.

Rail thin, in her forties, Susan was brazenly redheaded, brazenly single, and had the voice of a three-pack-a-day smoker—but now she apparently vaped stuff like bubblegum and pink strawberry lemonade surprise. Her entire life was seeing her “kids,” as she called them, into comfortable livings, and given that symphony musician wasn’t exactly like computer tech in the growing industry department, Seth was pretty sure she earned every penny of her commission.

Together, Susan and Amara got Seth into a waiting town car, but they didn’t leave before Seth hugged his dad and Linda with all his might.

“You’re getting right on the plane?” Linda asked, to make sure.

“Yeah. Won’t have me in your hair anymore.” He was trying to joke, but his heart hurt.

“You listen to me,” she told him, bending down to make sure he saw her eyes. “My son loves you, and so does my family. You are not a bother. You are not in our hair.”

Seth gave her a small smile. Except he was.

She sighed and kissed his temple, and his father was next.

And then Susan had circled around and made sure his leg was inside and stretched out in front of him before she shut the door.

They drove straight to the airport, and Susan dosed him with painkillers before getting an airport people-mover to haul him to the plane. By the time they took off for New York, he’d passed out, his head leaning on the glass, leg stretched out in front of the seat next to him, because he got two first-class seats.

Someday, he thought as he went under, he really would sleep forever. Waking up was just too damned much trouble. Without Kelly, everything was.

When Your Head is in the Stars, You’re Everywhere

“KELLY, HE’Scrying.”

Kelly looked up from his tablet and frowned. He’d taken a job that let him work from home four days a week, and that suited him. He dropped X-man at daycare while Chloe was in school and then picked them both up and worked a little in the afternoon if he could. The situation was… well, perfect, actually, considering how bad it could be.

The restaurant his mom had once done the books for had gone belly up, but that turned out okay. She’d gotten a job as a receptionist at Craig’s warehouse—they got to go to work together, which was great, because she was practically living downstairs anyway, so Matty could use her room. It was a situation that benefited everybody… as long as Kelly didn’t have to talk to his brother ever again for the rest of their lives.

But Chloe was so good. She’d play quietly or watch television when he was busy—but he tried not to be busy too much. She really loved to sit on his lap and show him small things, like her ever-increasing stuffed animal collection—or watch Seth’s videos on the tablet, which was a special form of agony.