“Hey, where’smyhug?”
Eli’s eyes go wide. “Aunt Kallie!”
He throws himself at her knees, hugging her tight. It’s been a while since they’ve seen each other—he must have missed her so much.
Kallie picks him up and twirls him around, making him giggle. “Oof! Three months away, and this is what you do to me? Grow too big for me to lift?”
“I’m still the same size.”
“Then I must’ve gone weak. Now, I gotta lift you a hundred times a day to get back my strength. Oh, is that necklace for me?”
My heart warms, seeing them like this. Kallie might not be family on paper, but she’s been a big part of Eli’s life. Ever since he was born, she’s done the impossible to help me take care of him, shuffling shifts around to make it work. She’s been my rock, and it’ll forever kill me that I couldn’t be hers.
One day.If there’s one thing my newfound freedom has given me, it’s the opportunity to stick by the people I love. And from now on, nothing will keep me from them ever again.
On that note, we get back in the car and head to the address Yulian gave me.
“Are we going to see Granny and Grandpa?” Eli asks. We told him a couple of days ago, to give him time to adjust to the idea of finally meeting his grandparents. “Do they live here now?”
“Just temporarily. But their new place is close to the school,” I tell him. “If you want, they can come pick you up sometimes.”
“Will they buy me ice cream?”
“I think they’ll buy you all the ice cream in the world.”
When we get there, Mom opens the door. The second she sees Eli, her whole face lights up.
“Oh my god, look at you!” She crouches to cup his face. “That’s Meemaw Mia, alright. You’ve got her eyes, her face—everything.”
“Who’s Meemaw Mia?” Eli asks, puzzled.
“My grandmother.” Mom’s eyes wrinkle at the corners. “Come on, let’s get you inside. I should have a picture somewhere in all the boxes.”
After a quick round of introductions, Kallie hits it off with my dad over their shared love of the local sportsball team. I smile, shake my head, and leave everyone in the living room.
I find Ginny in a little side-room, tapping away on her laptop. “You could at least say hi to him,” I tell her. “Feel up his joints, see that they don’t creak like old wood.”
“Ha-ha-ha. A Pinocchio reference. How clever of you.” She steals a glance from the doorway. I think I see a flash of emotion bubble up, but I can’t be sure, because a second later, she’s looking at the screen again. “I have to work. World doesn’t stop just because you want it to.”
“You work from home?”
“Where else would I work from?”
“I don’t know. An office. You were always the social butterfly between the two of us.”
“I had to grow up, Euphie.” Her voice hardens, grows barbs. “Not everyone gets the luxury of living out their dream life in the city.”
Dream life.I wish I could yell at her about Desya, and Prizrak, and all the shit Brad is still putting me through.
But she wouldn’t believe me.
“Fine,” I say. “Be mad at me if you want. But you could still make an effort to get to know your nephew.”
Suddenly, Ginny stands up, her chair dragging hard across the floor. “‘Effort’?” she repeats. “And just what do you know abouteffort? What the hell do you know about family?”
“I didn’t mean?—”
“Here.” She slams a thick planner into my chest, filled with stray papers and color-coded tabs. “Read it. Learn something.”
