Page 59 of Rule

She took the picture and I turned the screentoward me, studying the picture. “Huh, that’s not a bad picture, honey.”

“Pretty Evie girl.”

I kissed her soft cheek. “Thank you,honey.”

She stood on my bed and turned around,bending over and wiggling her butt at me as her tail waved back and forth. “Takepicture of Bella tail.”

“Stop waving it around,” I said.

She giggled and flicked it straight. I tookthe picture and showed it to her.

“Bella tail,” she said. “No Evie girltail.”

“That’s right,” I said. “I don’t have atail to take a picture of.”

She studied me for a moment. “Evie girlbreasts?”

She tried to stick the camera down my shirt,and I laughed and tugged the camera away from her. “No, honey. We don’t takepictures of breasts. Okay?”

“Okay.” She grabbed the camera and slidoff the bed. “I take picture of Papa. Bye, Evie girl.”

“Bye, honey.”

She scampered out of the room, slamming thedoor shut behind her, and I folded my legs under me before opening the nightstanddrawer. I pulled out my broken PAR phone and the picture of my father. Istudied his face, tracing the line of his jaw as my chest ached with sadnessand sudden loneliness. God, I missed him. He’d been the only one who’d evertruly cared for me, and the pain of missing him only seemed worse with eachpassing year.

There was a knock on my door. Still holdingthe picture of my dad, I said, “Come in.”

The door opened and heat pooled in my lowerbelly when Court stepped into my room. “Hello, Evie.”

“Hi, Court.” I stared at the quilt as Courtwalked to the bed and sat down on the edge of it.

“Are you feeling all right?”

I nodded. “I had a bit of a headache thismorning, but it’s gone now. The gallberry juice at lunch helped.”

“Good. Who is that?” He pointed at thepicture of my father.

“My dad.”

He held out his hand and I handed thepicture over with a slight tinge of trepidation. “It’s the only one I have ofhim, please be careful.”

“I will.” He studied the picture and thenhanded it back. I propped the picture against the lamp on the nightstand. I didn’thave to hide the picture anymore. There was no Alex to come along and rip itup just to make me cry.

When I turned back, Court was staring at mybreasts. I didn’t mind. It made me feel good, if I was being honest.

“What is this?’ He pointed to my PAR phone.

“It’s my phone.”

He picked it up, staring at its shatteredscreen. “I have seen human communication devices, but never one like this.”

“It’s really old,” I said. “Most peoplehave newer versions.”

He didn’t say anything, and I cleared mythroat. “I should probably just throw it away, it’s broken, but I have some pictureson it and I keep hoping that maybe I’ll be able to get them off of it somehow.”

He stood up. “Come, little human. I mightbe able to help you retrieve your pictures.”

“Seriously?” I slid off the bed and followedhim out of my room and down the hall to his.

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