“Hm.” Ray picked up one of her brownies, examined it, and took a bite. She chewed thoughtfully. “Not my best work.”
“It’s at the bwave end,” Marie offered. “For people with couwage.”
Ray looked down at the small girl, then back at Lincoln. Something shifted in her expression—not quite amusement, but adjacent to it.
“Brave end. I like that.” She took another bite of her own brownie, apparently unbothered by its questionable texture. “Accurate, too. Takes courage to eat my baking.”
“You’re vewy good at other things,” Marie said earnestly.
“I am.” Ray winked at her. “And I respect a system that tells the truth. Too many people pretend bad cooking is good because they’re afraid of hurt feelings.”
She looked at Lincoln directly. “You don’t pretend.”
“I don’t know how,” he admitted.
“That’s not a flaw, Linc. That’s a gift. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
She walked away with her brownie, leaving Lincoln standing at the table with Marie, trying to process what had just happened.
“Aunt Way isn’t mad,” Marie observed.
“No. She’s not.”
“She said you have a gift.”
Lincoln looked down at his small assistant, then back at the table they’d organized together. At the system they’d built, which ranked things honestly and hurt no feelings. At the family moving around them, accepting the ranking without offense, laughing at the accurate placement of their own failures.
They accepted him. Not despite his inability to pretend, but because of it.
“Maybe I do,” he said quietly.
Marie slipped her hand into his. Her fingers were sticky—chocolate and bourbon caramel from Joy’s tart, probably—but he didn’t pull away.
“I think so too,” she said. “You make sense, Lincoln. That’s the best thing.”
He didn’t know what to do with the warmth that settled in his chest at her words. Didn’t know how to categorize it or file it or rank it on any scale he understood.
But standing there in the crowded room, holding the hand of a three-year-old who thought making sense was the best thing a person could do, he decided maybe he didn’t need to.
Some things didn’t need to be organized.
Some things just were.
?*
* Books from characters in this chapter:
Lincoln Bollinger (& Mercury) – HERO’S TOUCH
Marie Bollinger (parents Jess & Ethan – HERO FOREVER and all the Linear Tactical books)
Ray & Dorian Lindstrom (Theo & Savannah as children) – GHOST, SCOUT epilogue, BLAZE
Zac & Annie Mackay – CYCLONE
Ella & Colton – HERO’S PRIZE
Violet & Aiden - SHAMROCK
