Page 91 of For Fox Sake

She taps my leg with her fingers. “Yep.”

“What would you think if we lived there, permanently?”

“What is perm-ently?”

“Like, what if we lived there forever?”

She purses her lips. “I would miss my friends. But we could email and FaceTime.”

“Right.”

She pats me on the head. “I’m very young. I’ll adapt.”

I snort out a laugh. “Where did you hear that?”

“YouTube.”

“Of course.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jake

It’s a beautiful summer day in June. It isn’t too hot or too cold. The air is fresh and clean, like sunshine and dirt and growing things. The wind whispers through the leaves in the trees overhead.

And I’m surrounded by twenty middle schoolers and freaking depressed as hell.

We’re gathered along a hiking trail. Atticus is up at the front of the group, explaining some kind of creepy-looking mushroom thing to the kids, while Archer and I bring up the rear.

Moving usually helps with depression, something I learned from my sobriety journey. Just keep moving your body. Get the blood flowing. It makes a difference. Not today.

Atticus drones on and on. Damn, he loves his mushrooms.

The kid in front of us shifts, bumping into his companion, who turns and shoves him back.

“Hey.” The mere sound of Archer’s deep baritone is enough to make them stiffen and apologize.

It probably helps that he’s six foot five and built like a damn mountain.

I sigh.

Is Atticus seriously still talking about mushrooms?

He must sense the crowd getting restless because he finally stops jabbering on about fungi and we keep moving.

“How are Ryan and Ari?” Archer asks.

I shrug my backpack up higher. “They’re good.”

“How are you?”

I breathe in some fresh air. It’s not helping. “I don’t know, man. It’s hard. I miss them. I know I’ve only known them for a few weeks. Is that weird?”

He jumps over a log in the path. “Nah. I knew the first time I saw your sister that she would be important to me.”

“Really?”

The path narrows. He steps ahead of me, talking over his shoulder. “Yep. You were throwing up in Veronica’s parking lot and she was trying to carry you while being honked at and laughing her ass off.”

---