Page 19

I followed Eve, stepping gingerly on a worn footpath. “And you’re sure it’s safe to walk all the way out here?”

“Monty and Ruby were out here for months with no problems.”

I narrowed my eyes at her retreating back. “You sure are confident today.”

She peered at me from over her shoulder, cracking a smile. “But that’s me every day.”

Our boots crunched over dried plants, gone crispy in the sun, and more tangled weeds.

“You know, you’re not the only person who teases me about being the rule-following, responsible one,” I said.

“My sister does, too. Everyone likes to hate on us until there’s trouble and we’re the ones who have to fix everything. ”

Eve halted, waiting until I was walking next to her. “Is that what you think your job is? To fix everything?”

“Well…yeah, of course.” Who else is gonna do it? “Maybe that does make me boring, though.”

Eve sent me a look that had heat crawling up the back of my neck. “You could never be boring, Hendrix. Doesn’t suit you.”

I swallowed, directing my gaze back to the trail. “Do you, uh… Do you talk to your family still? You mentioned they disowned Monty.”

Her jaw tightened. “When I left Princeton and moved out here with Monty, I basically left for good. We’re not completely no-contact, but whenever we do talk, it’s shallow, at best, and still awkward.”

“Your parents don’t sound very…warm,” I said. “Uptight workaholics, too, huh?”

Her lips tugged down into a frown. “They live a life completely devoid of joy. Everything they do has an outcome. Nothing is done purely for pleasure. They’ve bought into every lie that capitalism tries to sell us. Individualism, hoarding their resources, being obsessed with what others think.”

She shrugged, casting a glance my way. “It’s sad, really. In her own way, I think Monty always felt bad for them.”

My heart ached to hear it. “My mom died when she was only forty-five. She missed out on so much of her own life. Losing her as a teenager changed me, dramatically, from the inside out. Changed how differently I viewed the singular pleasure of being alive. The gratitude I have, to wake up and be able to breathe.”

I pressed my hand to my chest. Caught Eve studying me, her gaze full of curiosity.

“What I mean is…” I hesitated, nervous with her eyes on me like that. “I hope your parents start making time to enjoy the little things, even though I know that sounds so cliché. It’s true, though. They should go watch a sunrise every now and then.”

Eve was quiet for a moment. We passed beneath the head frame creaking eerily in the wind. The rain was still just a warm mist, but I could feel moisture seeping into my shoes.

“Are you doing that, though?” Eve asked. “Taking the time to watch sunrises every now and then?”

I bristled at that. “I mean…no, not recently. But I’ve been out here in New Mexico, trying to find your aunt, among other things. I haven’t had a lot of time.”

At Eve’s answering silence, I added, “And sometimes you’re just making a series of choices that get you through the worst of it. Surviving isn’t only about sunrises.”

She nodded, kicking a rock out of the way. We were now on a rotting wooden path, around which we could see several open mines, dark and dangerous-looking. The kind of pit I pictured tossing a stone into and never hearing it hit the bottom.

The wood creaked with our every step, and the rain was picking up, turning colder.

“But when does that change for you?” Eve asked. “When do you get to focus on the sunrises again?”

A sharp defensiveness was rising in me. I could feel it. “I don’t know, Eve. I don’t have any of this figured out. Do you?”

She smiled, but it was sad at the edges. “No one has it figured out. It’s just… I hit my own rock bottom before Monty asked me to move out here with her. I was only in that place because I was trying to make other people happy. So…are you happy?”

I hesitated. Then hated that I hesitated. “Yes. Yes, of course, I am. And you already asked me this.”

“Didn’t think you were telling the truth then. Don’t think you’re telling the truth now.”

I stopped in my tracks, stunned. Annoyed. The board I was standing on warped in the middle, groaning loudly with my weight. But I was too focused on the arrogant tilt to Eve’s mouth to move.

“You really think you’ve got me figured out,” I said quietly. “From the minute we met, you’ve made one assumption after another, and they’ve all been laughably inaccurate.”

Those lips tipped into a smirk. “Is that so?”

I took a step closer, until the tips of our hiking boots touched. Rain was starting to drip down the back of my neck, but I hardly noticed. “I’m Bruce Sullivan’s daughter. I’m used to people thinking they know me when they don’t. It still pisses me off, though.”

“At least I’m not lying to myself about what I really want in life,” she muttered.

“Oh, you mean keeping every romantic relationship you have casual so you never have to be truly honest with another person?” I arched an eyebrow. “If you think your whole deal isn’t immediately obvious, Eve, then let me be the one to tell you otherwise.”

Anger flashed in her eyes, her gaze searing into mine. She ran her tongue across her teeth, sizing me up like an opponent in the ring.

“At least I’m not in relationships that sound about as exciting as watching paint dry,” she said.

“Why do you care if they were exciting or not?” I leaned in as close to Eve as I dared, feeling the twin impulses of lust and irritation flood my nervous system. “As if I’d ever make the mistake of dating someone like you .”

Eve’s voice dropped to a taunting whisper. “As if you could handle me, Hendrix.”

I wanted too many things at once. Her hands, tearing at my wet clothes. Her teeth, grazing my neck. Wanted to fall to my knees right here in the rain and feel her fingers clench in my hair.

But none of that happened.

Instead, the wood buckled beneath our feet with a jarring crack .

And this time, we both fell.