Page 26 of Second Chance with the Half-Elf
“Except you didn’t stick around for the waking up part.”
I glare. “Wasn’t ready for whatever came after.”
She lifts her chin. “You sure you’re not just afraid of being seen andstayed with?”
I groan. “God, don’t do the therapy voice.”
“Evie.”
“I found a letter,” I snap, pacing. “From my mother. To his uncle.”
Her brows go up. “Well, damn.”
“Yeah. She said she loved him. And she ran. She ran, and it gutted him, and I?—”
“—ran,” Liara finishes softly.
“I’m a rerun. I’m a glitch in the bloodline.”
Liara hops up onto the counter and kicks her paint-covered feet against the cabinet. “Or maybe you're scared because yousaw what love did to your mother. Maybe this isn’t history repeating. Maybe it’s you looking it dead in the eye anddecidingsomething different.”
“I didn’t decide anything,” I mutter. “I bolted. Again.”
She points a paintbrush at me. “Evie, queen of flight. All hail.”
I throw a rag at her. She dodges like a practiced sibling.
Silence blooms.
And then she asks, quieter, “What do youwant, really?”
“I don’t want to ruin him.”
Liara’s voice sharpens. “Youwon’t. Unless you make that your excuse to do nothing.”
“Maybe I’m not built for this,” I whisper. “For staying. For... roots.”
She hops off the counter, wipes her hands. “You stayed last night.”
I laugh. It comes out broken. “Only to leave again.”
The bell over the door jingles.
Jamie Moore stands there, dressed in a yellow raincoat four sizes too big and dragging a backpack shaped like a jellyfish.
Their eyes light up when they see me. “Hi, Miss Evie!”
Liara grins. “Hey, Squidlet.”
Jamie stomps puddle-wet boots across the studio floor and plops onto the rug beside my bag like they own the place.
“You look tired,” they say.
“Yeah, well,” I murmur. “Long night.”
Jamie hugs their jellyfish backpack like it knows things.
“Do you want a secret?”
