Page 44 of Fallen Flame

I kept my eyes on the stars. “The adoption papers.” The words came out before I could stop them. “They say I’m Pipe and Nikki’s son.” I rubbed a hand over my jaw. “Most days I don’t think about it.”

“Most days.”

I nodded once. “But every now and then...” I let the sentence die.

Lark waited.

Finally, I exhaled. “It feels like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

I shook my head. “Never mind.”

“Ollie.” There wasn’t any teasing in her voice this time. Just concern.

I still didn’t look at her. “It’s stupid.”

“I don’t think it is.”

Silence settled between us again. She didn’t push. Not right away.

“How old were you?”

I glanced over.

“When Pipe and Nikki adopted you.”

“Nine.”

She nodded slowly, giving me time if I wanted it.

“I’d bounced around enough by then that I quit unpacking my stuff.” A humorless chuckle escaped me. “Made moving easier.”

She didn’t interrupt.

“I figured it’d be the same with them.”

“But it wasn’t,” she whispered.

I shook my head. “They kept showing up.”

I looked down at my hands. “School stuff. Ball games. Birthdays.” I shrugged like none of it mattered. “They... stayed.” The word hung between us. “I kept waiting for them to change their minds.” I laughed once under my breath. “Took me a long time to believe they weren’t going to.”

Lark was quiet. When I finally looked over, her eyes were fixed on me. “You’re lucky.” There was a sadness in those two words that hit harder than anything she’d said all night.

“Yeah.”

“My parents...” She swallowed. “I had them until I didn’t.” She stared out across the yard. “No second chance.”

I knew they were both gone. Everyone did.

But sitting there beside her, hearing the loneliness behind those three words, it landed differently.

She wasn’t just talking about losing her parents.

She was talking about having no one left. No one to tease her. No one to argue with over dinner. No one waiting for her to come home.

For the first time since I’d met Lark, I stopped seeing the woman who filled every room with laughter. I saw the one who went back to an empty house when the laughing stopped.