Chapter 36

Monday morning,I find Remy in the upstairs entryway dressed for a run, sneakers in hand and balls of brown wrapping paper at his feet. “Bro, do you know why all my sneakers have wads of paper stuffed in the toes?” he asks.

I squeeze my eyes shut and try to force my laughter back. “Guess you haven’t tried to make coffee yet?”

His confused frown deepens. “No, why?”

“Torch stopped by yesterday.”

He drops the sneaker on the floor with a thud. “And?”

“He couldn’t help mentioning your arrangement and Molly accidentally overheard him.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” he grumbles.

Not that I feel like sticking up for Torch, but. “I don’t think he did it on purpose. He seemed upset that he hurt her feelings.”

“No wonder she didn’t stop by and see me before she left.” He waves his hand at me in an irritated gesture. “Here I thought it was because she was spending every last second with your dumb ass.”

“I told her she should still go say goodbye to you. Said I’d go with her. But she didn’t want to cause a scene there.” I nod to the paper all over the floor. “This is her way to let you know what she thought of your plan.”

“Did you help her do this?” he asks.

“Nope. She was done in the kitchen by the time I found her.” It’s impossible to hold back my smirk. “I didn’t exactly stop her when she went after your shoes, though.”

“That’s just great.” He bends over and collects the paper. “What other surprises am I going to find?”

“Now what fun would it be if I ruined it for you?” I cross my arms over my chest. “I think you’ve learned a very important lesson here.”

“Yeah?” He rolls his eyes. “What’s that?”

“Your sister has a brilliant, evil side. Don’t piss her off.”

Even though he’s trying to keep a straight face, he shakes with laughter. “Fine.” He walks into the kitchen and tosses the paper in the trash and swipes his phone off the counter. “I’ll send her an apology.”

His phone buzzes in his hand. He checks the message and cracks up.

“What?” I ask.

Laughing too hard to answer, he passes me his phone.

Molly: Happy Monday! I hope you’re having the morning you deserve, brother dear!

A row of grinning emojis follows.

“See?” I hand him his phone. “What’d I tell you?”

The rest of the week goes by fast. I spend a few days at Jerry’s helping him get caught up on paperwork that he’s neglected. I take Molly’s advice and call Venom to catch up and to talk about what might happen at the reunion. His take: nothing good.

Every night I talk to Molly for at least a few minutes before she goes to bed, and she sends me texts and selfies throughout the day.

It’s not quite the way things were before I left. Actually, except for her being an hour away, things are even better than before.

At the back of my mind, I can’t help wondering if the reunion will be the thing that tears everything apart.