Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 60309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60309 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
“Bad enough for you to come down here is bad enough for me to steal shit for you.” I open the same cupboard O’Malley did, and I find the limited supply of pain meds. “If anyone asks, I took them for my headache.”
Once I come over and put three pills in her palm, Luna looks a little overwhelmed. “Thanks.” She smiles over at me, and I fill her a water from the tap while she sinks down at the breakfast table. “Why couldn’t you sleep?”
“The wind.” I place the water beside her, and I take a seat at the other end of the table. The candlelight between us. “You missing home?”
She downs the pills with a big swig, then nods. “I keep thinking about Xander. It’s not even that we won’t be there tomorrow. It’s that we can’t even call him to wish him a happy birthday or let him know we’re thinking about him.”
“Yeah,” I nod back. “I get that.” I eye the empty chair beside her. “We could pretend.”
She smiles over at the chair. “Pretend everyone is here?”
“Yeah, why not?”
Luna leans forward, eyeing the tartan tablecloth and the candle. “And there’s a feast. A ginormous Christmas feast with mac-and-cheese.”
“Now we’re talking,” I say, and I think she smiles more off how I say talk like tawk. “What do you do—turkey, ham?”
“Christmas Day? Ham.”
“There’s a huge ham,” I tell her. “Massive. Right there.” I point at the center of the table.
She leans forward and smells with closed eyes. “Mmm, pineapple-y.”
“Mashed potatoes.”
“Garlic mashed potatoes,” she amends.
“Girl, get out of my head,” I tease.
We’re both grinning. “Yams,” she says. “The frozen kind. They’re the best. They’re over there.” She motions to a spot near Xander’s chair.
I pretend to slide her the yams. She mimes forking a yam and taking a big bite. With a pretend mouthful, Luna sing-songs, “Delicious.”
“What does Xander like?”
“The rolls. He’s usually in charge of making them because he likes them a perfectly golden color. He’ll stand by the oven like they’re his babies. Incubating.”
I laugh, and I push the rolls towards him.
She heaps more food onto his plate. A good portion of ham, another scoop of yams and potatoes. “There you go, birthday boy.”
“We can’t forget dessert,” I tell her. “You see that cheesecake? Each slice is a different flavor.”
“Mmm,” she moans. “Caramel. Strawberry.”
“Chocolate.”
She shoves the plate to me. “Take a slice.”
I take many slices and stuff my face until she’s laughing, and I’m laughing with her. And we keep building upon our Christmas feast, the table overflowing with gravy, cranberries, a molten chocolate cake, sugar cookies, ice cream, and pizza bites.
We’re digging in, laughing and moaning over the perfectly cooked rolls, and this is the best meal I’ve had all year. Christmas Eve with Luna Hale.
Luna cups a goblet of Fizz Life with two hands, and she asks, “Have you seen Hook?”
I chew a grisly part of ham. “Yeah,” I say with a small smile. “Loved that movie as a kid.”
“Yeah…me too.” She shares in my knowing smile.
Eating a pretend feast is the highlight of Hook. Thing is, this isn’t the first time I’ve done this on a holiday. Just the first time I haven’t been alone doing it.
I don’t tell her that.
Seems too deep.
Guilt festers in me a little bit for wanting to be snowed-in, unlike Luna. They’re suffering here, and I’m the only person who would rather stay here than go back home. I know that.
My dad is in Philly. Out of prison.
It’s just better here. Away from him.
This is better.
Once we’re both stuffed, I careen over and blow out the candle. We’re bathed in darkness.
“Merry Christmas, space babe,” I breathe in the quiet.
I hear her smile as she says, “Merry Sithmas. The cheer is strong with this one.”
I laugh, and it’s a laugh I let carry me to bed. Though, maybe I should’ve let it carry me to the moon. Her moon.
God, I wonder where that is. I bet it’s beautiful there.
PART FOUR
JANUARY 2039
NINE
PLAN Z
JANUARY 2039
DURING CHAPTER 36 IN SINFUL LIKE US
We listened to "10,000" by Elliot Root while writing this scene.
Character List:
Maximoff Hale - 23
Beckett Cobalt - 21
Bodyguards:
Thatcher Moretti - 28 Omega (Current Client: Xander Hale)
Farrow Keene - 28 Omega (Current Client: Maximoff Hale)
FARROW KEENE
BAD SHIT IS ON the horizon, but I stay in the moment as much as I can, as often as I can. I’d rather not dwell on shit that hasn’t happened yet.
Not today, not tomorrow.
“You know what’s strange?” Maximoff whispers, his posture rigid and guarded. Like he’s that knight in armor.
Wolf scout being a “wolf scout” is still typical and cute, even on serious days. “What?” I lean against the green paisley wall, outside the tower room in Mackintosh House. More relaxed than Maximoff next to me.
“I keep thinking that the weirdest part of being stuck in Scotland isn’t being trapped. It’s how long we’ve gone without paparazzi, fans, hecklers, and headlines. It’s like a noise is missing that I’m used to.”