I melt into his embrace, letting the uneven rhythm of his heartbeat lull me toward sleep. “Can we sleep at my place tonight? I miss Fleur... but I miss you more when you’re not with me.”
CHAPTER THREE
Nova Marshall
PAST (2011)
"Music is a language that doesn't speak
in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if
it's in the bones, it's in the bones."
Keith Richards
“Daddy?”
My father looks up from his rose bush. “Yes, sweetheart?”
I sit down on the lawn beside him with Percy, the Coopers’ golden retriever. “Do you think ants go home to sleep when we don’t see them?”
“You mean in the little shelters you built for them?”
I nod quickly and blow bubbles, trying to pop them on Percy’s nose.
Daniel and Chris Cooper asked my parents to look after Percy ten months ago. I don’t know why they’ve been gone so long, but dad says they’ll be back tomorrow.
I’m not sure how I feel about that. I love Percy—he plays with me, he sleeps in my bed now—but the Coopers promised they’dbring me a surprise when they returned and I can’t wait to see what it is.
“I’m sure all the ants are grateful for the houses you built them,” Dad says.
I glance at the tiny one I made next to the tool shed. “Do you think they love me?”
“Do you love them?” he asks.
I nod and spin in a little circle with Percy trotting after me.
Dad smiles, tugging off his gloves. “Well, then... I’m a hundred percent sure they love you too. Everyone does, sweetheart.”
“What about you?”
“I love you more than anyone else.”
I smile so hard it hurts and fling myself into his arms. Percy bounds after me and licks dad’s face until we’re both laughing. Then I put on my best serious face, because I know that what I’m about to ask can put him in a bad position with my mom. “Can Percy sleep with me tonight?”
Dad raises an eyebrow. “Do you promise he’ll behave? And that he won’t upset mom?”
I hold up my hands. “I promise.”
He still doesn’t look convinced, so I use my secret weapon. I draw a cross over my heart—and then grab Percy’s paw to do the same. “Cross my heart.”
Dad chuckles and kisses the top of my head. “All right. Just try to keep him quiet, sweetheart. You know how your mom reacts when he barks at night.”
Mom doesn’t like Percy. Honestly, she doesn’t like the Coopers at all and I don’t understand why. Mr. Cooper is Dad’s best friend, and both of them are the kindest people I know. They drive me to school when my parents can’t, smile all the time, and on Halloween they fill my bag with my favorite candies.
Sometimes I think Mom doesn’t like me either. She scolds me no matter what I do, never wants to play with me, and forgets everything I tell her. Every summer she sends me away to camp for two months. This year I begged dad to let me stay home, and, since Percy was my responsibility, he agreed.
It’s been the best summer ever. Evenings mean ice cream with dad, and afternoons belong to Grandma, Percy, and Olivia, her tiny piglet.
