Not without unearthing secrets that’ll shake us both.
So I say the only thing I can manage.
“Yeah, kid. Me too.”
Later,when the chaos winds down and cleanup begins, I offer to walk him to the carpool lane. He nods sleepily and climbs up my back like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
His weight settles across my shoulders—warm, trusting,right.
He leans against my head, still humming that strange, perfect song, and my heart’s a warzone. Love, guilt, fear, hope. All of it, tangled and raw.
As we turn the corner, Kairo’s just stepping out of the front doors.
She sees us.
Her eyes go wide. Her posture stiffens. For a second, she doesn’t move.
Then she looks at Ben—curled contentedly against me, half-asleep, holding the handle of my horn like a security blanket.
Something flickers in her expression.
Not anger.
Not quite.
It’s something softer. Something more dangerous.
She opens her mouth like she’s going to say something—then closes it again.
I smile at her.
And for once, she doesn’t look away.
CHAPTER 13
KAIRO
It starts with a song. A ridiculous, off-key rendition of an old spacefaring jingle from the war-era, sung with such earnest gusto by Jav that even the most sugar-hyped five-year-olds go quiet. For half a heartbeat. Then the room erupts in shrieking laughter.
And so do I.
It takes me a second to realize that I’m laughing. Like, actual laughing—not the polite chuckle I hand out at PTA meetings or the dry sort I save for awkward dinner dates with Maliek. This is belly-deep, full-throated, tears-at-the-corner-of-my-eyes laughter. Jav is on stage—if you can call a taped-off section of floor a stage—wearing paper antennae and a cloak made of recycled snack wrappers. He’s spinning in place while a gaggle of kindergartners chant something about “hug diplomacy.”
Ben is front and center, completely enraptured. He’s got a neon plushie tucked under one arm and a huge grin on his face. His little hand reaches up to high-five Jav as the song ends in a final, chaotic twirl.
The audience of parents claps—some politely, some confused. A few blink like they can’t quite believe what they just witnessed. Me? I can’t stop watching Jav.
It’s like seeing a comet you thought had burned out blaze through your sky again.
And then—just like that—the lights go back up, and reality smacks me upside the head.
“Can I talk to you?” Maliek’s voice is low, tight.
I blink and turn. He’s standing near the entrance of the multi-purpose room, arms crossed. He’s dressed in one of his always-pressed tan blazers, his expression pinched with discomfort.
I follow him out into the hall.
“What’s up?” I ask, already knowing.
