Hewaslikable. Iliked him. Fox would have thought he was adorable.
The longer I spent with him,the more likable he got. Rare as that was.
“This is Gray. Wanna know asecret?”
Maddi nodded eagerly.
“He’s my bodyguard,” Milesstage-whispered as he closed the door behind him. Maddi’s eyes widened, thoughshe didn’t seem afraid. More like curious.
“Cool, huh?” he asked,beaming at her.
Everything about him wassubtly different, and I realized I was seeing yet another layer.
Or maybe they weren’t layers at all.Maybe they were more like… facets on a cut stone.
Miles was different fromevery angle.
Suddenly, the name Miles hadgiven hit me. McAllister.
As in…
No. She couldn’t be, could she?Not from the family who ran that huge transport company. I saw their truckseverywhere.
Like Miles, she’d have to beworth a fortune if she wasthatkind of McAllister.
“I know the answer, but how’reyou feeling?” Miles asked, going over to her and pulling up a chair.
“Well, one week out of fouris okay now,” she said. “I hate coming in here and knowing it’s gonna start allover again. But Idolike seeing you, so…”
Miles laughed. “I’m flattered.”
“My parents have finallypulled me out of school,” she said. “I think they’re starting to get it.”
“So are you gonna startsomewhere local once this is all over?”
Maddi looked at him, firstwith dismay in her eyes, then a kind of steely determination that was going totake her far. “Yes.Whether they like it or not. I’ll enroll myself.”
“I’ll pretend to be your dadif you need me to,” Miles said.
He was too young for thepart, but I thought maybe he would havelikedto play it, anyway. Hiswhole face was shining with love and concern for this kid.
Who was she to him? As faras I knew, the Emersons and the McAllisters didn’t have any familyconnections. Not that I was an expert, but it wasn’t like she’d greeted him asUncle Miles, or anything,either.
I figured I’d get answersonce he was done here. I was clearly being shown this for a reason, though Icouldn’t help feeling like I was intruding on a private moment.
Thankfully, my phone pickedthat moment to vibrate.
Fox: shelves organised
Attached was a picture ofthe bookcase I’dseen on the floor set upright, with the books organized—as promised—by color,starting from white on the left of the top shelf and going through the wholespectrum, a rainbow of knowledge and other worlds.
Huh. That was kind ofpoetic.
I texted back a quick thankyou and a promise to supply him with a case of whatever ridiculous importedbeer he wanted in exchange. Not that Fox really had to be bribed to do nicethings for people, but I liked him to know I didn’t take him for granted.
He meant a lot to me, and I’d come torealize over the past few years how important it was to keep the people whomattered as close as possible.
Fox: tell your newboyfriend he’swelcome and he has excellent taste in literature
