Page 33 of Whirlwind

“Zoë…” Gail’s voice flared gently.

“Unless you don’t want one,” Zoë amended.

“I don’t know what I want.”

“Cool.”

“You think?”

“Yep. You need to go with the flow.”

Wes and I burst out into laughter.

“It’s true,” said Zoë. “The right girl will come along. And you might not even know it. That’s what Daddy always says about Mommy. When he least expected, she came along and BOOM!” Her face flushed.

I glanced at Gail, who shook her head at her daughter through a huge grin. “Is that so? That’s a great love story.”

“Yep, so don’t expect it because then it won’t work. You want your boom, don’t you?”

“I know I do,” said Wes, and Zoë giggled loudly.

“Yeah, I do, Zoë. I want my boom,” I murmured. “You are very smart, and I’m super lucky that you’re my sister.”

Zoë cinched her arms around my waist and hugged me. “I don’t want you to be sad, Beck.”

I stroked her long hair. “I don’t want to be sad either, Zo. I really don’t. But I think I kind of am. I haven’t been sad in a really long time, so it feels a little weird.”

She peeked up at me. “It’s okay. That’s life. Up, down. Up, down.”

“You’re right.”

She hugged me tighter, grunting with her exertion. “You’ll see. Soon it’ll be time for the up and then—boom.”

* * *

My mother’stense face filled my phone’s screen. “Beck! We’re at an internet cafe and I just saw Mae’s post and—I’m so sorry. How could she? That’s just—”

“Mom, I’m okay.”

“Where are you now? Honey, your face…”

“I’m at your house.”

“You are?”

I swerved my phone to make her kitchen visible. “I wanted to escape. I came to Meager.”

“Good for you. I’m so relieved. A lot of reports said you’d disappeared.” She let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”

“Mom, I love your house and being here right now has been perfect. All I wanted was to be somewhere no one knew about. You know I love you, but being here alone has been the best.”

“I get it, baby. Believe me.”

“I know you do. I cleared my head. Hung out with Wes. Emptied your fridge.”

“Baby, we’d left it pretty damned empty.” She let out a laugh.

“And I saw Zoë too.”

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