Page 159 of How To Not Need You

“Absolutely fucking not,” I say. Tilly gasps. Shit.

“Daddy said the F word!”

“No, I didn't.”

“YES YOU DID.”

Liv is laughing again. Ben looks unbearably pleased with himself.

I point at him. “I'm still finding out why you know how to do this.”

“Good luck.”

“Fifteen years, mate.”

“And yet.” He does the sweep again and adds a hip wiggle to top it off.

Bastard.

The fundraiser is finally winding down.

Tables are being folded. The coffee urn has been switched off. Someone is wrestling a gazebo back into a bag approximately half its size and losing badly.

I've changed out of my turnout gear, which Liv complained about for reasons she continues to insist were entirely related to public safety, and I'm carrying three bags I don't remember packing.

I don't know what's in them but I'm taking them anyway. Luca is at the main table counting the raffle money with enough concentration to suggest someone will die if he gets it wrong.

“Two hundred and eighty, two hundred and ninety…”

A volunteer asks him something. Luca holds up one finger.

“Do not speak to me.” The volunteer stares at him.

“I will lose my place.”

“You could write it down.”

“I have a system.”

“Your system appears to be counting.”

“Exactly. Please respect the process.”

I keep walking. Tilly is nearby with a unicorn painted across one cheek and six balloon animals tucked under her arm.

Six.

I told Ben to stop at three. Apparently my authority means nothing here. I can confidently identify the purple unicorn. The green dinosaur is questionable but acceptable. The remaining four could be almost anything.

Tilly insists one is a giraffe. Ben insists it's a dog. Neither of them has backed down. Across the lawn, Liv is helping Wren stack the last of the empty donation crates. Wren says something that makes her laugh.

I stop. Only for a second.

“Face.”

I close my eyes. Ben. Of course. “What face?”

“The face.”