Page 68 of Wrath

"Some."

"Let me guess. Cheesecake and some kind of triple layer chocolate death gig?"

He cracks a small smile, like a smirk with one side of his mouth. "Yeah, they had cheesecake and chocolate cake. He brought it home all the time and the cheesecake was okay, but the chocolate stuff was weird. Made you feel like you're going to choke on it."

"Oh, you're gonna choke on it."

Ezra shakes his head and puts a hand over his face. "Trust me. It wasn't good. The cake." He looks almost embarrassed. It makes me grin.

"My grandma makes this killer yellow cake with chocolate icing,” I say. “If you don't like it, you're not even alive. I'll make it sometime soon."

Ezra looks skeptical.

"Yeah, I can make cake,” I say. “Can you?"

"No,” he says.

"Not into the culinary arts?"

"No." He looks annoyed.

"Was your stepdad an asshole?"

He gives me a bug-eyed look, like he's surprised I asked.

"I'll take that as a yes. Is your mom with him now?"

"No,” he says.

"Is she with another guy? Remarried?"

"Affirmative.” He rolls his eyes. “Anything else, Sherlock?"

So many things. I tell him, "No," and sit back up to drink more Icee. He sits beside and slightly behind me, still and quiet for a long moment.

"So you want to go?" he asks.

"Yeah, I'll go. If you don't want to, someone else can pick me up."

"No, it's okay. I want to."

Five

Josh

Icall Mom and Carl from the swing under the back porch. I don’t want Ezra to hear me talking, even though I guess he might know everything there is to know about this topic by now. I can tell my mom is worried based on how her voice sounds—the same way it used to when she talked to our dying cat, Hermano.

“I feel fine now,” I assure her.

“That’s good,” she says. “I talked to the on-call last night. Dr. Kelley will make space for you on Monday morning. We won’t be back, but I thought Ezra could drive you.”

“To Birmingham?”

“Well, yes. Is he an unsafe driver?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“You don’t want him to go? I’ll call Jenna’s mother. She can—”

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