Page 104 of Sing Me Home
I didn’t care if this ended up on the news—and the cameraman directly behind Dad made me suspect that it would—I sprinted toward the man who had raised me as his own, a second wind burning in my veins.
He tossed the poster board to the side just in time to catch me.
thirty-three
Cash
Did I think Charlie’s issues would be fixed by setting this whole thing up? No. But it couldn’t hurt.
Somewhere over the past four years, something had happened to her, and I didn’t mean the acid attack. Maybe being away from us made her forget what family was for, or maybe she’d never really understood.
Charlie grew up believing her aunt and uncle were her parents and that Tally was just her aunt. Her ‘dad’ walked out when she was seven. Her ‘mom’ left a few years later to chase a job in New York, leaving her and Theo with Tally. When Ashton and Tally got together, Tally finally told everyone the truth: Charlie and Theo were her biological children. But the final blow came when Charlie read her mom’s memoir and learned that her biological dad had raped her mom.
Everything she thought about who she was had been flipped on its head, over and over and over. So yeah…she was struggling to figure herself out. I got that. Or, I was trying to.
My plan was working. As we ran, she grew lighter and lighter, soaring through the obstacles, teasing our family about how she’d be waiting for them at the finish line before blowing by. Every family member’s declaration of truth seemed to fuel her. While she was flying over the terrain, the rest of the racers were walking, huffing, and dripping sweat on the ground. She was a happy little firefly in a field of sluggish, near-dead mosquitoes. Maggie and Bowen seemed to be riding in her draft, teasing and taunting each other.
As we came up on the spear throw consisting of twenty hay bales, each with a coinciding spear, Charlie slowed. Her face fell for the first time in the past hour. We got there just in time to see Silas hit the bullseye. Then he stepped behind a very red-cheeked Sophie and helped her aim. Together they nailed it, making it look simple. Then they took off. But Sophie looked beat.
Charlie and I found an empty bale.
Griffin and Lemon came running up. Griffin stepped behind Maggie and planted a kiss on her cheek, making her jump.
She laughed when she realized it was him and kissed him right back.
But just then Bowen, who’d jogged ahead to find an empty slot, waved. “Mags!” He pointed to an open bale and she took off.
Griffin’s jaw ticked but he took off after his mom.
“You go first,” Charlie said.
So I did. The spear landed easily inside the center. I grabbed the rope, pulled it across the ground, and handed it to Charlie.
As Charlie lifted the spear, settling it exactly how she wanted it on her palm, I watched Bowen out of the corner of my eye. He hoisted his spear up and sent it flying. It hit dead center. Even better than mine. Maggie cheered.
“I dunno,” Charlie’s voice brought my attention back to her. “What if I miss?”
“Not a big deal. We’ll run the penalty loop.”
“But we need to pass Silas and Sophie.” Everyone else was in our dust.
“We will,” I assured her.
Maggie’s throw missed, landing a foot under the circle, which was weird. She’d gotten to the point where she usually nailed it. Maybe she was tired. She groaned but laughed and took off for the penalty loop.
“I’ll come with.” Bowen jogged up behind her, hands on her hips, lifting her off the ground to go faster.
She squealed, delighted. “You don’t have to.”
He set her down. “Sure, I do. We’re partners.” They jogged off together.
“Is hetryingto make her fall in love with him?” Charlie asked, voice tight, spear still in her hand.
“If he is, it’s working.”
Charlie turned to the bale, eyeing it fearfully.
“You’ve got this,” I said. “And if not, we’ll hit the penalty loop together too.”
