Page 88 of The Best Trick

When we hurt, Thor hurt on another level. More than anything, Thor wanted to help Odin with his sleep problems. But that just wasn’t possible at the moment, and maybe he’d never have that, but we’d get through that together, too.

He’d come to see that what he did for us was enough, that the love he offered us was enough.

Discreetly, I glanced at my phone. Three minutes after seven.

If Denko had been telling the truth, he’d be waiting alone in that warehouse with a tackle bag full of evidence that would have gotten us free.

“This is how we survive,” Odin said, understanding perfectly the direction of my thoughts.

“Yeah,” I said. “It's hard not to picture him alone there, waiting, that's all.”

“I know,” he said. “No taking stupid chances. Some rules were not made to be broken.”

I grinned at him and shoved at his thigh with my heel. “Listen to you, Mr. Rule-hater!”

He squeezed my big toe. I laughed and kicked off his hand.

Thor looked up. “Can’t you two behave for one second?”

“That’s what I keep asking myself!” I said.

Zeus growled.

“The grill is going to look newer than when Sue bought it,” I said. “She is going to keel over.”

“What can I say? We are amazing Airbnb renters,” Odin said. “The most amazing. We make all other Airbnb renters look like scoundrels from the pits of hell.”

I shoved him again with my foot. “Scoundrels from the pits of hell! I like the sound of that! Where can I meet these scoundrels?”

Odin smiled. His smile was increasingly rare these days, so I let myself enjoy it. I didn’t know how well a man could function on so little sleep. I didn’t know how Thor would get past the pain of seeing Odin suffer and being unable to help him. I didn’t know how I could look at a life of never seeing my sisters. But we were in this together.

If nothing else, we were the most amazing Airbnb renters in the world. Not only did we leave the grill shiny and sparkling, in a barely used condition, but we left behind a priceless piece of dog art for Sue, gift-wrapped and everything.

EPILOGUE

A month later

Somewhere on the Oregon coast

Thor and Zeusand I were power lounging out on the rustic stone patio of our lavish backwoods rental, sprawled side by side on comfy loungers we’d pushed together.

Zeus had settled his head in my lap and had just begun to snore lightly.

I was reading a book on my phone, balanced on Zeus’s head.

Thor was watching Odin play fetch with Doris out on the huge field behind us, yelling encouragements to Doris now and then. Odin had bought a Big Bill tackle bag as a toy. It seemed a bit perverse, being so fraught with significance, but Odin had strange ways. Maybe he wanted to see it all chewed up.

And of all the toys that we'd bought for Doris, the tackle bag was the one Doris seemed to prefer for whatever weird reason; maybe she liked it because there were so many ways for her to grasp it in her teeth. Or maybe she felt that it was weighted with significance for us. More likely, she sensed that it was Odin’s favorite.

In any case, the games they played with it were extensive and elaborate. Odin would take the tackle bag and hide it in different places in the house and out on the property, and when Doris would find it, she’d race around looking for Odin. Sometimes Odin would take off on a run after hiding the tackle bag in the house, and if Doris found the bag while he was gone, she would try desperately to escape the house in order to find Odin. Sometimes he would lock Doris in the car with the tackle bag and she’d have to get out.

Sometimes a dog whistle seemed to be involved.

“He's going to miss that dog something awful,” Thor said.

Zeus mumbled his sleepy agreement from my lap.

Thor kept watching. He was still worried about Odin.

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