Page 100 of Better Hide

No more hiding. I have to face this. For Jo.

EPILOGUE

JO

Five YearsLater

Onion Powder, or “O.P.”for short, jumps at my feet. He’s grown from a young dog to an adult but still acts like a puppy. I laugh and push him down. He spins circles around our lavish kitchen, panting with his tongue out. Cole insisted on naming him, and Jayden and I will never stop making fun of him for it.

I put my keys and groceries down on the counter and let out a huge breath. Immediately, I open the ice cream and find a spoon.

Therapy was hard today, but despite that, I’ve been so much happier since going. It’s like a giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like a whole different person—less angry, more…found.

“Cookie dough?” Cole moves into the kitchen. “What the fuck? You weren’t even going to tell me?” He grabs a spoon and sits next to me at the bar, yanking the carton over to him.

“Fucker,” I kick at his legs. “That’s mine.”

Cole takes a big scoop and wiggles his eyebrows at me. “The last egg has hatched.”

“Really?” I jump off the stool and go to the kitchen window, where a bird has made a nest right outside the window. Cole has been obsessed with the progress.

“Did this morning.” Jayden walks into the kitchen, wearing a button-down shirt that’s unbuttoned at the top, looking relaxed. “Oh sure, don’t tell me.” He snatches the spoon from Cole. “Hiding the ice cream from me. Lucky I don’t off you.”

“Pffft. It’s been five years since your last one. You couldn’t off me if you tried.”

I roll my eyes and turn back to the window. There’s a muffled yelp.

Sure enough, all the baby birds are curled up and sleeping. The mom must be out getting food. They’re so horrendously ugly, but I can’t help watching them.

Cole moves to stand beside me. “He took my spoon,” he grumbles and grabs my hips, resting his chin on my head.

“Need me to beat him up?”

“Please.” We watch the babies for a while. Cole traces his hand up and down my arm. It’s covered in tattoos now. Of course, everywhere that their initials aren’t. Jayden insisted on keeping those visible. At first, the tattoos started as a release from the pain, but now it’s something special that Jayden and I do together. He gets off on marking me; I get off on letting him.

“It’s been a month.”

“What?” I ask absently.

“A month. Since our reversal.”

I freeze.

It has been a month. We didn’t need to wait this long, but I told them not to touch me. I thought I was ready, and I’ve been going to therapy twice a week, but now that there’s a real possibility, I’m scared. Terrified, even.

“Jo?” Jayden asks.

I swallow.

Cole turns me around, gripping under my chin and forcing me to look at him. He searches my gaze for a little. “You don’t need to be scared.”

“I’m not,” I lie.

Cole glances back at Jayden, then turns back to me. “Then what is it?”

I close my eyes. “I’m not ready.”

But that’s it. I am. I feel healed. I don’t feel like I’ll turn into my mom if I become one. I think Jayden and Cole are ready, too. Cole has worked through some of his past with his mom, and Sam has even visited every once in a while. We’ve set up a savings account for him, so he’ll be set for college. Jayden has also worked through a lot of his trauma. He no longer kills instead of feeling things—shocker—and he’s slowly, bit by bit, opening up to himself and us. He and I go swimming every morning now, and he’s easier to talk to. I’ve gotten him hooked on my smutty books.

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