Page 53 of Paradise

“Cody, you have some of these same toys back at home,” his daddy pointed out. “I’ve seen at least five of these Space Rangers before.”

“But I didn’t have their flyers before,” Cody pointed out. “Daddy, they hover! I have to get them home too.”

“You don’t need ten flying cars, Cody.”

“But, Daddy …”

“We’re coming back in less than a year,” he said, and he was using his “this is my final word” voice, so Cody knew not to push it. “Pare it down, bucko.” He picked up one of Cody’s bags and hoisted it a little. “This one done?”

Cody looked at it, wondering if he could possibly fit anything else into it. Probably not; the seams were bulging. “Yeah, it’s done,” he said reluctantly.

“I’m gonna take it out to the ship, then. We’re taking off in fifteen minutes, so hustle, okay?” He walked out the door, and Cody looked back down at the half-filled bag in front of him.

There was no way he could get everything he needed into it. The helmet that Wyl had gotten special for him was too big, and the geofinder from Robbie wasn’t going to work on Pandora; they didn’t have the right satellites for it. The book of fairy tales from Miles was too nice to just shove into a bag; it wasold, it was actually real paper. He’d already packed the stuffed tiger from Claudia, but without the stuffed lion that came with it, it might get lonely … but he just didn’t have room. He huffed and leaned against his bed, rubbing at his hot, stinging eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Cody said quickly, turning around so he wasn’t facing the door. But Garrett came over anyway and touched his shoulder as he sat down next to him.

“What is it?” he asked softly.

“I don’t have space for everything,” Cody said, keeping his eyes down. He didn’t want Garrett to say anything, he didn’t want him to see him crying. “There isn’t room for everything I need to take with me.”

“Oh.”

“And Iknowwe’re coming back,” Cody went on because hedid, everyone kept saying it, “but not for a long time.” Because a year was a very long time, no matter what Daddy said. “And …” His throat was feeling hot now too, scratchy and full, and he stopped talking.

“And you’ll miss it,” Garrett said. Cody nodded, eyes still on the floor. “I understand. It’s hard to leave things behind, even when you know it’s not forever.”

“It feels like forever,” Cody whispered. “And I already miss them.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought we were talking about.” Garrett tugged him a little closer, and Cody went, burying his face in Garrett’s side. “You’ve never really left anyone behind before, have you?”

“Just Grandma, and I don’t really miss her,” Cody confessed. “And before, when you left, it wasyougoing away, not me. I did miss you, though.”

“And I came back in the end,” Garrett said, rubbing a hand over Cody’s shoulders. “And so will you. No one’s going to forget you, and you won’t forget them either. You’ve got the holos of everyone?”

“Yeah.” Cody and Garrett had spent most of yesterday running around and getting videos of everything and everyone he liked here. He even got a short clip of Thérèse and Garrett arguing, which was just like normal.

“Then you’ll have plenty of things to help you remember everyone, and you can show them to your friends back home. You do want to see Lacey and Tamara again, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Codydid, kind of, but … “This would be a lot better if we were all in the same place all the time.”

“It would be nice, but … there’s something to be said for the healing power of absentia,” Garrett said.

“What’s that?”

He could tell Garrett was smiling from the way his voice changed. “I’ll tell you later. First we have to finish packing.” He took his hand away, and Cody straightened up, then looked at his bag.

“I guess I should put some clothes in too, huh?”

Garrett blinked once, then laughed. “You haven’t packed any of your clothes yet?”

“I needed the room for other stuff!”

“Yeah, I know. C’mon. Clothes.” They went through Cody’s wardrobe and packed his favorites up, along with some dumbstuff that Cody was sure he wouldn’t need, but Garrett grabbed anyway, like socks. He looked over all the other things he was going to have to leave there and sighed morosely.

“I guess that’s it.”

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