Rus furrowed his eyebrows. “Um . . .”
“I thought about it, you know?” Oliver went on. “I love Lilymoor, but I don’t want to do this alone. I never did, and you know that. I want to do it like we’d planned. Together. I wantthatinheritance. Not this one.”
The ghost of an amused grin crossed Rus’s face. He scratched his chin. “Including the roller coaster, or . . . ?”
“We can skip the coaster,” Oliver amended, though it sounded like the decision pained him. “But that’s what I want. And if—if you refuse, I’ll get a lawyer. A better one than you.” Rus quirked a challenging eyebrow, and Oliver returned it. “You’re not the only one who’s great at their very lucrative job,” Oliver added sarcastically. “And I think since you didn’t give me the chance to take half the blame for the fire, I should be entitled to half the estate—andonlyhalf.”
That was . . . sensible, I guessed. In its own way. I shifted uncomfortably, because Rus didn’t want this. He didn’t wantanything to do with Lilymoor. I was preparing for another fight, I hoped without fists, when I felt his arm brush against mine as he pretended to think about it. He glanced over at me and gave a wink.
“Only half, then,” Rus replied, and held out a hand. “Deal.”
Oliver stared at him, mouth agape for a moment, before he pulled himself back together. “Really?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “I love this place, too, and I’m done punishing myself for a place that doesn’t hold a grudge. So, deal?”
His childhood friend looked at his outstretched hand, and then bypassed it immediately, to pull him into a hug. Rus returned it gratefully. It was tight, crushing, Oliver’s coffee sloshing over the rim of his mug. I offered to take it and returned inside. They had a lot of catching up to do.
When they finally released each other, Rus asked, “Wanna go talk to Eula?” as he grabbed my hoodie from the coatrack. “Yeah, before you chicken out,” Oliver replied, stepping off the porch.
Rus shrugged on the hoodie—it was one of my oversizeDUKE UNIVERSITYones that swamped me and yet fit too tightly on him. He wore it anyway and slipped into his loafers. “I’m sorry. I should’ve come back sooner. It’s just …”
“I know,” replied Oliver. “I know. We’ve got a lot to catch up on. But can we start with that haircut? What are you, some sort of sleazeball lawyer or something?”
Rus laughed. “Speak for yourself. Did you pack anythingotherthan Henleys?”
“Says the man in his girlfriend’s college sweatshirt.”
“You’re jealous.”
“Actually, no. You two are a good fit. She’s going to destroy you.”
Rus laughed. “I know. I can’t wait.”
I leaned against the doorway, sipping on Oliver’s cold coffee, as I watched them leave up the path, as they made their way over the Moon Bridge, straining my ears to listen as far as I could, until Damnit’s morning screams drowned them out, but I could’ve sworn before they turned toward the Hedges that they were laughing.
44
gökotta
Maybe Harriett was the goose, after all.
I just wanted to go say goodbye to Mom and Eddie before they left on their RV road trip back home, and Damnit was hell-bent on keeping me from doinganything. She chased me and Rus halfway across the lawn before we had to think up an emergency maneuver. Rus told me to dodge through the Hedges; he’d take the Lily Walk and hopefully lose the hellion there.
It worked.
Breathing heavily, I planted my hands on my hips and walked over to the stone bench beside a bust of William Shake-speare and flopped down onto it. Ireallyneeded to find a way to befriend that goose. If I was going to live here, I couldn’t do cardio every single time I looked at her funny.
As I slowly caught my breath, I thought I heard my name.
Then again—
“Sophie!Soph!”
I froze. My heart stuttered at the sound of that voice. It was one I knew. One I knew better than my own. One that no longer existed—couldn’t exist.
And yet—
“Soph! C’mon, whereareyou?” Her voice echoed over the Someday Garden’s wall. I couldn’t tell where it came from, only that—“This maze isendless!” she added with a delighted laugh.
