I raised an eyebrow.
“He’s sober now. Been doing really well, actually. Married, too. Nova ran into him after we moved back... surprise, surprise—she had a secret baby when we were in London.”
I blinked.
“She’s engaged now,” Luna added casually, like we weren’t talking about the most insane plot twist of all time. “So yeah, the whole thing’s a little... wild, but she wants us all together for Christmas. Like one big, messy, happy, sober family. Emphasis onmessy.”
“Jesus,” I muttered.
“Exactly.”
She took a breath as I hesitated, hand still clutching the doorknob.
“I know I broke a promise. I know I hurt you by telling Dirks, but I need you to hear this—really hear me.”
“Alright.”
“I need you in my life. I need my friend back. The one who held my hand when the world was falling apart. The one who knew what I was thinking before I said a word. The one who saw me, every broken piece of me, and never looked away.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to do this life without you... soberyou. It’s only... nine months. Nine months to settle the estate, to figure it out. To be something again. Maybe not what we were, but something. Please.”
She laughed once, weakly, brushing away a tear. “I don’t care if we just fight and cry and remember old songs and eat cereal on the floor like we used to, because no one else gets the darkest parts of me like you do.” She swallowed hard and whispered, “Be my friend again, Jer. That’s all I’m asking. Don’t make me beg more than I already am.”
Her words, her tears, her plea, lodged deep in my chest and refused to move. As I stepped out into the cold again, I already knew.
I’d see her again.
26
luna
I walked upstairs, my body moving on instinct while my mind tried to process everything that had unfolded. Dirks was sitting at the edge of the bed, his elbows on his knees. When he looked up and saw me, he shot up.
“What do you need?”
The storm and the calm. That’s what my boys were to me.
Jeremy was chaos, fire, history that never settled. Dirks was the breath I needed. The calm that caught me before I hit the ground.
I walked to him slowly, my voice barely above a whisper. “A hug.”
Without hesitation, he opened his arms, and I stepped right into them, burying myself in the only thing that felt solid in the aftermath.
“He needs me,” I said as I slowly pulled away. “Not like that—not emotionally. I mean... he’s broke. Everything he had, he spent trying to save Arthur, our foster father. Now that Arthur’s gone, Jeremy’s stuck with the estate. But there’s a clause—something Arthur put in, probably when he knew he didn’t have much time.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, and Dirks sat next to me.
“If the house doesn’t transfer ownership within the year of Arthur’s death, the agricultural company pulls their bid. It’s been a few months already. They void the lease. Jeremy and I are stuck with the property, taxes, insurance, all of it. I’m somehow a beneficiary.”
Dirks’s brows lifted, but he didn’t interrupt.
“He says he’ll be gone after. Just this one thing. He said he wouldn’t ask for more.”
Dirks’s voice was low. “How do you feel?”
“I don’t know. I feel guilty and angry, but I also know I don’t want him to disappear—not completely. I know what we all were back then. I know what we tried to be.” Tears pressed at my eyes. “I... I don’t want to go back to that house. It’s haunted with things I’ve tried so hard to bury.”
“You don’t have to go alone. Take him with you.”
I blinked up at him. “What?”
