Page 2 of Perfect Order
“And who can beat anyone at a staring contest?”
“Let’s practice now. I’ll show you,” I cry eagerly.
We face each other with legs crossed and grab hold of each other’s hands. Both of our eyes close. Simultaneously, our eyes open. Neither of us blinks until we hear the back door open and our mother shout, “Kylie, Leanne! Which one of you has been rooting around in my garden?”
Together, as we’ve done everything since before we were born, we answer, “It was me.”
Our mother just sighs before she turns and walks back inside.
And we both fall backward against the warm grass, still holding hands when I declare, “I love you, Kylie. Always.”
“And I love you, Leanne. Forever. No matter whatever happens.”
TWO YEARS FROM PRESENT DAY
Kane
Beckett Miller’s new single ‘Live the Dream’ just hit number one on the Billboard charts. While Wildcard has issued his standard statement, he’s storming around New York like someone just lit his favorite silk shirt on fire. What’s wrong, Beckett? Trouble in paradise?
— StellaNova
“Hey, Ma,” I answer the phone call from my mother just before striding across the Avenue of the Americas to enter Rockefeller Plaza, where I’m supposed to meet my boss for an 8:00 a.m. meeting. “You’re up awfully early.”
“When have I ever not been up with the roosters, Kane?”
“Never.” I duck around a few people scurrying down the street directly in my path. “The problem was you also never went to bed late enough for me to have any fun either.”
Her raspy voice laughs in my ear. “Too true, sweetie. I do believe it was that very thing that got you in trouble when you took out…what was her name?”
“Megan Jo.” My mother has the mind of an elephant. After I returned home broken from my last mission, it was her unshakeable faith in me that got me through the horrid days. And the worst of the nights. “I was what? Seventeen? Are you ever going to let that go?”
She grunts out her assent, and all it makes me want to do is laugh, but my mother didn’t raise a stupid man when she wielded a wooden spoon like a music conductor. Nor did Uncle Sam reinforce what I learned with years of counterterrorism training to have me step into such an obvious trap. My shoulders stiffen when I realize what else I learned at the hands of varied members of the US federal government, but I know down to my bones that I will always be faithful to the memories of the men and women I served with.
Until the last breath leaves my body.
“Kane, are you listening to me?” she grunts.
I have to grin. No one I’ve ever met has caused me to be myself quite like my mother. It’s why I don’t feel a single ounce of guilt admitting, “Not a single word, Ma. Were you complaining about the hens again?”
“No, but I should be! Dratted things aren’t laying eggs.”
I glance down at my watch, thankful I have a few moments before I need to head upstairs. “Ma, we’ve talked about this. It’s likely your damn rooster is too old to…”
“The absolute last thing we should be discussing are cocks, Kane. I believe the last time wediddiscuss them, you were around sixteen, and your father mumbled something about condoms before leaving it up to me. Can you explain to me why the hell does that man think I’d know more about some slimy latex than the man who wears it?”
At this point, I’m doubled over laughing. “Ma, stop. I beg you. Please. I can hardly get my breath.”
“And now you want to lecture me about my beautiful Rufus not being manly enough to do his duty to his lady birds?” The umbrage in her voice is completely legitimate, and any other time but now, I’d be all about continuing this conversation.
“Ma, you know there’s no way I’d ever cut you off—”
“Darn tootin’, Kane. You know better than to interrupt your mother…”
“—but not today. Not when I’m about to have a discussion with one of my bosses about my potential readiness to go out in the field again,” I conclude.
There’s silence on the other end of the line. And in the blink of an eye, Fern McCullough drops the humorous monologue my sister and I swear should have secured her own television show years ago. An eerie silence extends between us before she probes gently, “Are you ready, sweetheart?”
I tip my head back and stare up at the powerful spire that seems to reach up into the sky with no end. “I’m stronger, and if I don’t give this a chance, I’ll never know, will I?”
