Page 60 of Trusting Skulls

Ash presses a kiss to my nape before letting my hair fall down my back. “I can’t believe you gave your little dog away. You told me you’ve had it since you were a child.”

“Thank you,” I tell him, moving back to my own chair. “I don’t remember telling you about Toto.”

He picks up his fork and starts eating. “You might have been a little intoxicated.”

“How much stuff did I tell you when I was drunk?”

His head tips from shoulder to shoulder. “Enough.”

“How embarrassing.”

He raises his hand. “Hi, my name is Ash, and I’m an alcoholic.”

I take a deep breath. He’s right. We’ve both had some shameful moments. I would never hold his lowest times against him. “Point made.”

“So why did you give it to her?”

My fingers dance over the necklace around my neck. “I don’t know. I guess I just appreciated her being here so much. I know that sounds stupid, but she didn’t make me feel crazy for being overdramatic yesterday. She just helped me through it.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid at all. Sometimes we just click with people.” He stretches back in his chair. “Do you know there’s aWizard of Ozmuseum in Kansas?” he asks.

“No. Have you been there?”

He chuckles. “No, I think I saw it on social media or something.”

I sigh. “It was just one of those things I was holding on to. It’s nothing more than a relic from a past life I’ll never get back.”

“We all have those. Something to connect us to the people we love and miss. Mine is the survival guide my dad gave me.”

I shove my hands under my legs. “I’m not saying it’s bad to hold onto something, but it’s not the same for me. I need to let go of them. Talking to Daisy last night made me realize that my parents should have been the ones to do it. If they didn’t want me, they should have given me to someone who did. They didn’t love me enough to let me go, so now I have to be the one to do it.”

“That doesn’t seem fair, does it?”

“No, but it’s okay because I’ve finally found the people who do want me.”

His eyes soften. “I’ve been telling you that for months.”

“I know,” I whisper. “It seemed too good to be true.”

The phone in my pocket rings, startling me.

Ash laughs. “There’s one of those people now.”

I see Raffe’s name on the screen.

“Go on, answer it. I’m going to take a quick shower.”

“Hello?”

“Hey, Lex. How’s it going?”

I watch as Ash digs through his duffle bag. “Good. How are you?”

Ash glances at me over his shoulder.

Raffe chuckles on the other end. “I’m fine, hun. We got Rachel home yesterday. She was pretty mad at me for sharing her secret, but we talked it out. I told her I need a support team, and she admitted that she probably does too.”

“I guess talking it out works, huh?”

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