Page 67 of Letting Go

Keira fawns over Roxy and Ruby like she’s making up for lost time, crouched on the living room floor while Ruby licks her face and Roxy gives her one of those sceptical, half-approving glances like she’s considering letting her stay.

I finally named the puppy with no one’s help. Roxy and her baby Ruby.

Then comes the moment when the air shifts. The moment when Keira’s done playing with dogs and she starts looking around like she’s a guest at someone else’s wake.

“I, um… where do I sleep?” she asks, scratching the side of her neck.

I walk past her, grab the remote off the couch, then gesture casually upstairs like this isn’t killing me. “Take the master. I’m in the guest room.”

She freezes. “No. No, I’ll take the…”

I turn and look her straight in the eye. No drama, no pity. Just: Don’t make this a thing. Keira gets it.

She swallows. “Okay. And… fuck.”

I nod. “Yeah. That about sums it up.”

She starts up the stairs slowly. Halfway up, I call after her. “Hey, tomorrow we’ll look at some apartments in the city, alright?”

She pauses, glancing over her shoulder.

“It’ll be closer to your college. And my work.”

A smile breaks across her face, one of the real ones, the kind that makes her look like the kid she is, “Okay.” With that, she’s gone. Up the stairs, into the room where the worst happened. But somehow, I know she’ll sleep fine tonight.

Knock knock.

I open the door, and there’s Caden, grinning, broad shouldered, and moving toward me before I can get a single syllable out.

He wraps me up and lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing, and I let out a startled laugh.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, clinging to him.

“Got back from Detroit this morning,” he says, voice rough and warm against my neck. “Wanted to see you.”

And then we’re kissing, deep, hungry, stupid like we’ve been doing it for years instead of days. I don’t care. He puts me down slow, and I realize I’m smiling. Like, real smiling.

“Hello,” he says with a cocky little edge.

Keira’s standing in the hallway, frozen, like she’s caught us filming a soap opera. “I just… I just wanted some water.”

“Oh,” I say, breathless. “Right. Um. Keira, this is… my friend, Caden. Caden, this is Keira. My sister.”

He leans forward like he’s about to offer her a business card or propose, and says, “Oh. Hello.” Like a game show host. Subtle as a jackhammer.

Keira’s cheeks flush. She tucks her hair behind her ears and mumbles, “So… you know me?”

That hits me right in the chest. The way she says it, like she’s afraid of who she is in someone else’s eyes.

“Yeah,” Caden says, softer now. “I’ve heard about you.”

I hand her a water bottle and she takes it quickly, muttering thanks before scuttling away like she wants to disappear into the floorboards.

The silence that follows is heavy.

“She’s…” I start.

“I know,” Caden says, pulling me back in by the waist. “Can I just say, you’re a damn good big sister.”

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