Page 85 of Midnight Between Us
“Is that why Mal left without saying goodbye too?”Simone asks as if everything I said is normal.
“Yeah.”
“Did you tell Hopper to do the same?”
I shake my head.“Nope.Mal made sure our mother knew he had to go to college.Push him out of the door as soon as he receives his diploma.I think she knew better by then.”
Simone rises from her seat without a sound.Her legs unfold like her thoughts are still catching up to her body.She looks at me then—really looks at me—like she’s trying to match this version of me to the boy I used to be.Her eyes scan my face, not in judgment.Fuck, I wish I knew what she’s thinking but for now I have to stay quiet and be patient.
She turns away, looking out at the yard like she’s trying to memorize it.Like she’s not sure she’ll stay long enough to see it change.
“I think I need some time,” she says finally.“Not forever.Just ...space.To think.To feel something that isn’t buried under twenty years of silence and what-ifs.”
Something in me twists, low and deep like I’m being asked to let go of something I only just realized I still wanted.I nod because what else can I do when she’s asking for space, and all I want is to stay close.The response comes faster than expected.
“You could tell your boss I need to be transferred,” I offer, and the words taste like surrender.“Say I’m an asshole or make something up.I’m sure you can figure out how to get rid of me.”
She lets out a dry scoff and half-laughs under her breath.“This is the safest place he can keep you right now.”
“I can handle myself.”
“That’s the problem, Keir.”Her voice doesn’t rise, but it hits anyway.“You’re his little cousin’s sperm donor.He can’t just throw you to the wolves and hope you come out breathing.In a way, you’re family.”
That’s ...not what I expected her to say.
“I thought you said you owed him?”I blink.“Now I’m fucking lost.”
She lifts her chin, eyes tracing the sky like she’s debating how much to reveal.Then she looks at me again, giving me that lopsided, almost-apologetic smile like this whole thing is both absurd and deeply personal.
“I was part of one of their programs,” she says.“They paid for school—tuition, housing, books.Everything.In exchange, I agreed to work for them after graduation.”
She shrugs, casual in a way that feels anything but.
“Then came the fellowships.The job offers.The years.I never went back.Never gave it a second thought.”
Her smile tilts, a little too self-aware.
“Then Finnegan found me.Said I still had a debt to repay and he was collecting.So now I patch up whoever they send my way.No questions.Most days it’s fine.Sometimes it means uprooting my life to work in a small-town clinic I swore I’d never set foot in again.”
“You could have said no,” I insist.
For fuck’s sake, she gave them our child, not that he’s for sale, but ...okay, maybe I’m conflating everything, like a transaction, because that’s how my brain works.
I don’t deal with people or emotions, only numbers and money.
“It’s not that easy.Not when you know that you’re making a difference, but also, you’re giving back to the people who took you when you were alone, vulnerable, and thinking the world was about to end.”
Simone stands slowly, brushing the grass from her palms.I stay seated.If I stand now, I’ll try to stop her.I’ll say too much.Want too much.She steps past me.
“You should finish the letters.”
Then she disappears inside, barefoot and silent, like a ghost that finally decided to stop haunting me.
But the ache she leaves behind?
That stays.
ChapterForty
