They’re going to be okay, he says. They have Tom. Your parents, too, right? They have so many people who love them.
But they won’t have me, Nick! They won’t have their mom. Because I left them. I jumped out the window.
Honey, no, that’s…comeon.
And he strokes her head while she shakes with sobs.
This is it, she whispers. This is losing. I get it now.
Twenty Seven
Later. They’re both calm again. A bit fuzzed by the whiskey. He’s combing his fingers through her hair. It’s warm in their little fort. Their foreheads are almost touching.
Jenny?
Yes, Nick?
What happens in the third book?
You don’t want to know.
Now you have to tell me. You said Wilderkill burns down?
She nods.
And?
She doesn’t answer. But the look on her face…
No fucking way, he whispers.
Well I didn’t know this was going to happen!
Sophie dies? In a fire?
Yes, but she does it deliberately, she says. To be with Julian. It’s okay, because they’re together.
As ghosts?
As ghosts, yes. It’s a happy ending. I promise.
Jesus Christ, woman!
They start laughing. They’re drunk now.
You killed Sophie! he says. You’re a monster.
I am. She strokes his hair. But I wrote an amazing ending.
Twenty Eight
The good cheer doesn’t last. How could it? He starts shaking again. She holds him tight.
Just be here with me, she says. Be here now.
Now’s not cutting it, Jenny. I need more than now.
How can I help you?
