Page 3 of Between Hello and Goodbye

But Morgan was too smart for that fairytale bullshit. He started to cry, and I hunched down in front of him.

“Hey. Hey, look at me.”

He raised his eyes and the fiercest love surged through me. I almost didn’t recognize it as love, it was so tangled with pain and rage at the unfairness of it all.

“I’m going to take care of you,” I vowed, infusing my entire being into those words. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. You hear?”

He nodded.

“I swear it. I swear on my life, I got you. Okay?”

He threw his arms around my neck, and I hugged him tight—but only for a minute. He was going to squeeze emotions out of me that I didn’t need or want. They were only going to get in the way of what I had to do.

I had four hundred bucks and a packet of corn chips to my name, but I was going to keep my promise to my little brother. Protecting Morgan and building a life for him out of the smoldering ruins were all that mattered. Somehow, someway, I’d make sure he went to school, had a roof over his head, and that no one would take him away from me.

We turned our back on the burning trailer and walked away.

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