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offices, taken guitar lessons on her own, and worked at Jamba Juice, the
book store, and Starbucks. Penny, he thought, looking at Chris"s dark
eyes in a sweet, mischievous female face, was meant for great
adventures in the wide world. Xander was fully aware that his heart
would not survive his adventures unless the other half of it were beating
in time.
“See, here"s the story,” Penny said now, after an almost nervous
pause. “Once upon a time there was a little girl named Penny, who had a
horrible crush on her brother"s best friend.”
“Aww, Penny, really?” Chris groaned, trying to keep things light.
“She thought it was true love, Christian, you bastard, so shut the
hell up and listen, okay?”
Christian rolled his eyes at Xander, but Xander couldn"t laugh
back. Unlike Chris, who didn"t seem to know where this was going,
Xander had a congealed, belated fear in his stomach, a terrible adrenaline
rush, as though he"d been caught doing something bad, and the
consequences were worse than he had ever imagined.
“We"re listening,” he said quietly, and he resisted the temptation to
take Chris"s hand. There was another quiet, one they could hear the
ocean in, and Xander realized he loved that sound. God, wouldn"t it be
wonderful to live near the ocean for the rest of his life?
Penny reached out and patted his knee. Xander was leaning
forward, his outsized body trying not to spangle over the couch like a
Mylar decoration, and that hand on his knee was close enough to his face
to stop and pat his cheek.
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67
“I know you"re listening, Xander. You always listened to me. You
were the one quiet voice in our house, and I loved you for it. I really did
love you, you know. I mean, I know it was junior high, but you were
