Page 58 of Scatter the Bones

“No.”

She takes another bite and side-eyes me while my mind races to put the last few days into words that make sense.

By the time she takes a sip of water and sets her glass down, my tongue’s still frozen.

“Okay.” She swivels her stool to face me. “Let’s start small. Where’ve you been the last few days?”

“Around. Took a ride to Maine.”

“What’s in Maine?”

“Ocean. The beach.”

Her lips pinch with annoyance. “The closest beach to us is actually in Connecticut. New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Cape Cod are all also closer. While I love Maine, why didyougo there?”

“To clear my head.”

She takes a long, deep, irritated breath. “Okay. Let’s try this again. You left here the other night and said Z needed help at Crystal Ball. So what kind of stripper emergency made you cutoff contact and ride all the way to Maine to ‘clear your head’…” Her voice trails off and she frowns. “Did you discover that you knocked up a stripper or something?”

The idea’s so absurd that laughter explodes out of me.

Margot’s frown deepens.

Oh, shit. She’s seriously worried about that.I reach over and wrap my hand around hers, squeezing gently. “No. Absolutely not.”

She sighs. “So, what happened?”

“A…family thing.”

“Is Jezzie okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. Still having fun at her job.”

“Good.” She picks up a fork and knife, pushes the bun off the sandwich and cuts a small piece of chicken off.

“My half-brother showed up looking for me.”

Her fork clatters against the plate.

She turns to fully face me and rests her hand on my thigh. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

I stare into her eyes, ashamed to admit how fucked up Cain’s visit has me.

“Because when you asked if I knew whether it was possible that I had other siblings out there, Ilied.”

She blinks as she absorbs the truth.

“The girl who helped me leave,” I continue, “was pregnant when I left.” I close my eyes in disgust. “She was a kid herself. Only sixteen at the time.”

Margot wrinkles her nose.

“Yeah, I know,” I say, acknowledging her obvious disgust. “I met him when I went back for Jezzie.”

I explain every part of that day in as much detail as I can remember and when I’m finished, Margot doesn’t run screaming from her apartment or ask me to leave.

She slides off her stool, pushes her way between my knees and slides her arms around my middle, squeezing me tight without saying a word.

After a second or two, I wrap my arms around her, holding her close. The painful wires that wrapped around my lungs the night Cain showed up slowly unwind and I can finallybreathe.

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