Page 2 of The KING Review

“You’ll be alright unpacking?” Fia asks in her serious-sister voice. “Don’t make your foot worse.”

“I’ll be fine.” I squeeze the hand she lands on my shoulder. “I get to ditch this in less than a week, anyway.”

“I knew you’d get on with Liv,” Cade says off-handedly as Fia joins him in the hall.

“Yes,” I say solemnly. “We both love C-splints.”

Fia cracks a smile, shooting a sideways glance at Cade. “Okay. We’ll see you tomorrow after your orientation? Come and have a coffee.”

Cade nods. “Neither of us is teaching till eleven. I can show you how the magic contraption works.”

I guffaw, and Fia glares at him. “It’s a coffee machine,” she snips.

“It’s got too many buttons,” he says with a shake of his head. “Need a whole new degree to figure that thing out.”

Fia groans as they offer a pair of affectionate waves. I mirror the gesture, watching them leave. Cade catches Fia’s hand as they walk down the hall, and she laces their fingers together like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

I can’t help but smile. My sister deserves something good and soft like that. It’s the kind of thing I’d love to find for myself, but I’m a romantic; I’m happy to wait for The Real Thing™ to come along in its own time.

Fia and I are very different people, and I’m grateful it never pushed us apart. There are seven years between us, so it makes sense that at thirty-three, she’s at a different point in her life than I am at twenty-six. I know it’ll happen for me when the time is right—not that I won’t shoot a shot when the spirit moves me.

I shut the door and turn back to my apartment, trying to decide where to start. It’s a difficult decision right up until I see the word “trinkets and décor” scribbled across one of the cardboard boxes.

Decision made. Vibes first—function after.

Chapter Two

Slip the Mask on

Grant

“Papa, why we not going to Mama’s house?”

I swallow hard and meet Sera’s wide, green eyes—my eyes—in the rearview. How do I explain to her that I can’t drop her off directly at her mom’s house, like a normal divorced dad, because Marie won’t let me go there without threatening to call our attorney?

“Your mama’s coming out this way anyhow,” I lie, and Sera’s six, so she can’t tell. I still hate doing it. “So, this was easier for her.”

Sera beams. I swallow again. There’s a sting in the bridge of my nose, and I will it away so I can at least attempt to smile back, but it’s definitely watery.

“I’ll miss you, Papa,” she declares brightly.

That doesn’t help the sting. “I always miss you, bug,” I say thickly.

I wish things between me and Marie were easier, but she’s not willing to see reason, no matter how hard I try. No matter how much Ellie—Cade’s sister, and our family lawyer—helps.

Maybe my ex-wife is right. Maybe I did manipulate her. Maybe I didn’t even realize.

I watch Sera playing with her doll in the rearview. It’s the one Liv bought for her when she took Sera to the museum with Ivy on International Women’s Day—a miniature Helen Fisher.

I’d burst out laughing when she showed me, and Liv admitted that she might have steered Sera in that direction, because “your dad does lots of work inspired by what Helen Fisher did.”

There’s a rap at the window, and I startle, head whipping round to find Marie standing by the car holding a takeout cup from the indie roastery by the courthouse on Third.

“Mama!” Sera crows, pressing her face against the inside of the glass.

I gesture to the door handle to let Marie know I’m going to open it, and she steps back.

I hate this part.