Page 132 of The Truths We Burn

“I’m, uh,” I trip out, “Silas’s friend. I’m just staying here until my dorm room is fixed. Mold is a bitch.”

I decide that telling them the same white lie as we told Silas’s parents is the best route. I’m sure they wouldn’t understand if I told them I’m staying here so I can be monitored. That I had been deemed a liability and now they’re taking precautions when it comes to my motives.

“Silas doesn’t have friends,” the one with the basketball says. “Not friends like you, anyway.”

“Touché,” I admit. “We’ve recently become friends. It’s been a slow process.”

“You’re Rosie’s twin, aren’t you?” the other one asks. “You look like her.”

I think that’s the one named Caleb, and the other is Levi. But I’m not sure because they look very similar, only one is just a few inches taller than the other.

It had been a long time since someone asked me a question like that.

Are you a twin? Are you Rosemary’s twin?

I nod. “Yeah, I am.”

Their shoulders seem to relax, leaving them less tense like they realized I’m not a threat all because of my sister.

“She used to take us to the junkyard with her when she was looking for materials she needed in her sculptures.”

“And then we’d get frozen yogurt. Which is so much better than ice cream,” Levi adds, cracking a stunning smile at the memory.

“Did she show you our super-top-secret froyo combination?”

Their eyes light up a little. “No!”

“Well, I guess that means we have to go sometime soon so I can pass on the tradition.”

Our secret is a pretty common combination, I think, but to us as little girls, we thought we were just genius. It’s cake-batter-flavored frozen yogurt with gummy bears. We used to be able to eat gallons of that stuff.

This home reminds me of simpler times between me and Rosemary. When we were little kids and the possibilities of the world were endless.

Everything about Silas’s home is a surprise to me. He’s this quiet, brooding, and angry man, while his home is quite the opposite. His mother had been in the kitchen making dinner when I came in, and his father was just coming down the steps from removing his suit. They were warm and welcoming.

Zoe and Scott had always been nice to me in passing. At events, at school when they were around, football games. I’d sadly thought they were just like everyone else, playing a part, pretending. But I can feel there’s real love in this house.

And I’d felt bad that Silas had to lie to them about why I’m staying here. They’d been told my roommate had gotten sick and my dad was so busy at work that I didn’t want to stay alone in the house. I think they thought it was because of Rose and my mother. That I was sad because it was lonely inside there, not because I’m plotting my own father’s death.

“Do you miss her?” Levi asks me.

“I do.” I nod gently, a smile on my face. “A lot.”

Levi purses his lips. “Us too.”

It seemed that all the boys in the Hawthorne family had two shared traits. They were men of very few words. And also like their older brother and everyone else, they were fond of Rosemary.

Which isn’t unexpected. It never has been.

Rose had always been the kind of person that you can’t help but fall in love with. Her empathic energy and calm soul seemed to call to people. Anyone who knew her, really knew her, was aware of just how special she was.

“Caleb, Levi, leave her be.”

Silas walks from up the stairs, coming up behind them and towering over their growing bodies, and the way they look up at him, it’s more than just because of his height.

They really look up to him.

They admire him.