Page 97 of Red Flag, Green Light

Practically angelic, Ceres says, “They didn’t take things well because they’re human, Mellie. They have a lot of emotions that they need to process on their own, but those emotions are not your responsibility, and even if they were? You literally cannot process them on their behalf. I know it doesn’t feel like it rightnow, but this is better for everyone.”

Writing the behavior we all saw this morning off ashumanis saintly. Personally, I found it kinda monstrous. But what do I know about monsters? My mother was a saint on earth and now she’s an angel.

“What if they never talk to me again?” Amelia whispers.

Ceres’s silence pinches my heart, and I hear her voice—distant and somewhat hollow—echoing in the back of my mind when we lay curled together on the trampoline and she told me about her relationship with her parents.

In that there wasn’t one.

Not anymore.

She hasn’t talked to them since she left home three years ago.

“If they don’t,” Ceres says, so soft I can barely hear her from where I’m standing beside my car, “you will survive it. I promise.”

Pushing off my charcoal gray driver side door, I approach the two women. “Around what time is Brian expecting you?”

“Um.” Amelia dabs at her eyes and sniffles, pulling herself out of Ceres’s arms. “He didn’t give me a time. Just asked that I let him know when I’m on the road what my GPS says…” Pink rises to her cheeks. “He may have said that he works nine to five usually, but if I’m coming in earlier, he’ll take off to meet me at the house.”

Brain Single. Leaving themailroomearly to make sure his new roomie can settle in well? How positively out of character. I say, “Ceres is great at planning things. She should be your maid of honor.”

Amelia’s eyes bug while Ceres sags. “Can you stop marrying people against their will, please?”

I smile at my betrothed. “You can’t control my headcanons.”

“Someone should.” Losing her ire, she focuses on Amelia again. “Are you gonna be okay to drive?”

Smile shaky, Amelia says, “I have to be. Brian’s expecting me today, which does mean I need to make it there before midnight.”

“Call me if you need to, okay?”

“I will.”

With another hug, we both watch Amelia leave the parking lot we stopped in after getting her things out of her parents’ house and her car out of their driveway. Stillness settles in my stomach as the woman’s vehicle slips from view, up the street, out of Bandera.

“You okay?” I ask once we’ve been staring at an empty road for a minute longer than I believeokay peoplewould.

Ceres’s head dips in what I think is a nod before she turns to meet my eyes. Conflicting emotions wage war in her gaze. Her lips part. Silence passes between them. Childlike lostness takes hold, and I move forward before I know what I’m doing.

My arms open, offering, and she evaporates into them, a perfect weight, a perfect size, made to be here, made to be held, byme.

“Mars…” Her voice breaks, and my heart cracks when I hear it.

“I’m here.” I thread my fingers into her hair, keep her enveloped against the beating in my chest. “I’m right here.”

Strength abandons her, and her forehead falls against my shoulder. Weak, she says, “I think…I should call my mom.”

My throat closes as my muscles tense. For several moments, I don’t know what to say.Are you sure that’s a good idea?feels stupid. Of course she’s not sure. If she were sure, she wouldn’t have said it aloud. She’d have done it without telling me. She’d have mentioned it later. Casually. Factually. Simply relaying the information if ever it were relevant.

Finally, I manage, “Why?”

Why now?

What’s different?

Whyis this something that you’re giving a possibility of life to after three years?

Fragile breath expands her lungs, and all she says is: “People…change.”

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