Page 2 of Not Quite Dead Yet

‘Oh.’ Jet gestured down her black turtleneck sweater and sleeveless denim jacket, black pants and boots. Yes, the boots were also black. ‘I thought it was super obvious. I came as a law-school dropout who still lives at home with her parents at twenty-seven.’ Made the joke before someone else could.

Luke hissed. ‘Scariest costume here.’

Sophia nudged him.

Something stirred in Jet’s gut, burned in her cheeks.

‘You’re also not wearing a costume,’ she reminded her brother.

Luke cleared his throat. ‘No, ’cause I’m here representing our family, representing Mason Construction. This is our fair, important to look professional and approachable.’

‘With that hair?’ Jet laughed, still smarting. Maybe she’d feel better if she took Luke down with her. Just a little. ‘Company’s not yours yet, Luke.’

A muscle ticced in his jaw.

‘Next year.’ Sophia squeezed Luke’s arm, a red-lipped smile spreading across her face.Next year,when Dad retired. No, sorry,if.He’d been ‘about to retire’ three times already. They weren’t supposed to talk about that and Jet knew it; she shot him an empty grin, too many teeth.

‘Cameron’s first Halloween,’ Sophia said quickly, switching to something theywereallowed to talk about. Her baby. All she ever wanted to talk about, actually. ‘He’s a pumpkin.’ She jiggled him on her hip.

‘Oh shit, really?’ Jet said. ‘I thought he was a butternut squash.’

‘Jet.’ Sophia turned on her. ‘Can you not swear in front of the baby, please.’

‘Fuck, sorry.’ Jet clapped her hands to her mouth.

‘Seriously?’

‘It slipped out.’ It hadn’t.

‘You still writing that … what was it?’ Sophia asked. ‘That screenplay?’

Jet shuffled, digging the toe of her boot into a fallen leaf. Didn’t want to talk about that but Sophia and Luke werestaring, and she had no choice. ‘No, I’m not doing that anymore.’

Luke tucked his hands into his front pockets. Here we go. ‘Given up already?’ he said, and clearly enjoyed saying it. ‘That must be a new record.’

‘I’m working on something else, actually.’ Jet kept her voice level, walls up, teeth together. ‘A new idea.’

‘It’s not that dog-walking app business thing, is it?’ he said.

That feeling burned brighter, churning in her gut. Jet hardened her eyes, an unsaid question.

‘Dad told me.’

‘Well,’ she said, like she didn’t care at all. ‘I wish you’d all stop talking about me.’

‘Well,’ he replied, ‘I wish we didn’t need to.’

‘Fuck off, Luke.’

‘Jet!’

‘He can’t talk yet, Sophia.’

‘That’s the difference between me and you,’ Luke said. ‘When I have goals, I actually see them through.’

Jet laughed. A dark, husky sound that didn’t match her face, people said. An old man’s laugh, like she’d smoked a pack a day when she’d never smoked one.

‘I’ve got all the time in the world,’ she said, same thing she told herself every Monday morning when her parents went to work and she didn’t. Repeated the words until they stuck. Anyway, she shouldn’t let Luke get under her skin like this. ‘And I think you’re forgetting that I won that district spelling bee when I was just ten.’

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