Chapter 7: Rain Check

We went out into the stairwell, because there was nowhere in that lobby to have this conversation.

Tobias pulled the fire door shut behind us and the noise of the potluck dropped to a hum.

"Okay," he said. "Say it, then. Say I wasn't there."

"I was fourteen when Lacey broke Grandma's locket," I said.

"Hannah, come on."

"You told me to say it was an accident and apologize to her for being upset."

"You were being dramatic."

"It was Grandma's locket. It was the only thing she left me."

He scrubbed his hand over his hair.

"I was a kid too," he said.

"Then my graduation. You left before the diplomas to drive her to the airport."

"Her flight was early!"

"It was a six o'clock flight. My ceremony was at one. You could have stayed for the first three hours."

"I didn't think you'd care."

"I said fine, so you didn't think."

He stopped.

His jaw worked.

"And last week," I said. "In the kitchen. She cried, so you called me harsh. You didn't ask what I'd paid."

"That's different."

"How?"

"Because Lacey doesn't have anyone," he said.

"Her dad's gone and her mom works doubles. She has nobody but us."

"You've always been fine. You've got Mom, you've got me, you've got your job."

"You don't need things the way she does."

I looked at him.

He was my brother, and I loved him, and he honestly believed that.

"I need things," I said.

"Han," he said.

"I needed my brother to count the cookies."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Five of Us at Christmas, But They Only Ordered Four Cookies from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.