Page 173 of How To Not Need You
“I don't know.”
“You don't know why you look like you're about to pass out?”
“No.”
“That’s not comforting.”
Adrian looks down at his phone again. Then back at us.
“She just won forty-three million dollars.”
Silence. I wait for the rest of the sentence. There isn't one.
“I'm sorry,” Harper says. “What?”
“Forty-three million dollars.” He repeats, as though he is struggling to believe it as well.
“What the fuck?” comes out of my mouth at exactly the same time Elsie says, “Oh my God.”
Ben nearly chokes.
“FORTY-THREE MILLION?” Luca shouts.
Adrian nods.
“Actual million?” Ben asks.
I turn to him. “As opposed to?”
“I don't know. I'm processing.”
“Forty-three million dollars?” Luca repeats.
“Yes.”
“Forty-three?”
“Yes.”
“Million?”
“Still yes.”
Luca sits back. I don't think I've ever seen him speechless before. It's unsettling.
Tilly looks up at Jake. “Is forty-three million a lot?”
“Yes, Bug.”
“How much?”
“A lot.”
“More than a hundred?”
“Quite a bit more than a hundred.”
Her eyes widen. “Whoa.”
Luca seems to get his voice back and says. “Can she adopt me?”
Everyone chooses to ignore him and starts talking at once. Harper wants to know what lottery. Ben would like to know if Holly is currently accepting applications for new family members or maybe a husband. Elsie is asking if she's okay. Luca appears to have progressed from shock to some kind of mathematical crisis and is counting zeros on his fingers.
Then Adrian raises his voice. “That's not all.”
We shut up. Adrian looks at Luca. For some reason, he still looks completely shell-shocked. “She’s coming back.”
Luca frowns. “What?”
“Holly.” Adrian takes a breath. “She’s coming back to Seabrook.”
Ben seems to sum up all our thoughts in one sentence.
“Well, fuck. Seabrook just got more interesting.”
Yes, it did, Ben.
Yes, it did.
