I stashed the painting in the study for now, then came back to my room a minute later. Max already looked twenty pounds lighter.
“That’s better, huh?” I asked, sitting in the chair opposite him. “What’d you think of the magic tricks we practiced today?”
He shrugged. “They were good.” The chair was so deep, his feet dangled a few inches off the floor.
“I started doing magic when I was a little older than you are now. I must have practiced every day in seventh grade.”
“How’d you get so good?”
“With practice.” I tried not to show how excited I was that he was finally starting to ask me questions. All week it’d been me gently asking him questions, but this was the first time he’d sought me out. “And I started with the easy stuff. Once I mastered one trick, I moved on to the next. They all added up over time.”
“How’d you do that quarter one? Behind the ear?”
“That one? Easy. Let me just find a coin or two. . .”
CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE
POLLY
Our hearts are made up of all different broken pieces that belong to others, and when we find the right one, they show us how they can all fit together again.
Vi Keeland,Happily Letter After
“Max?” I whispered down the hall, having found his room and bathroom empty. I’d just snuck out of Ryla’s room after she’d fallen asleep while we were reading her first book.
When I walked upstairs with Ryla and Max to get them ready for bed, I felt alive and light, like the day was just beginning, rather than winding down. Last night, talking and watching TV with Jace, then tonight at dinner, laughing with him and the kids—it felt like second nature. Like I’d known him for years rather than weeks.
Max wasn’t in the library or basement. Picking up my pace, I walked quickly down to Jace’s room to see if he’d seen Max anywhere, stopping when I heard voices coming from the partially open door.
“Like this?” I heard Max’s voice.
“Yes! That’s it, Max! You are now the master of that trick. You can pull a quarter out of anyone’s ears now, I ’reckon.”
That was Jace. I crept closer to the door.
“Who taughtyouthis trick?” Max asked.
“You’re lookin’ at him. My family wasn’t much into magic, even though my parents would watch my tricks whenever I asked. I mostly practiced alone in my room. I didn’t have a lot of friends when I was your age.”
“You?” Max’s tone was full of amazement, making me smile. I turned, resting against the wall beside the door, shamelessly eavesdropping.
“Yup. That’s sometimes how it is in middle school. In high school we all chilled out a bit, and I met my friend Sam. He’s been my best friend ever since. Eventually everyone wised up to how great I was. I have a lot of friends now.”
“Did you ever, like, worry that you wouldn’t make any friends?” Max’s questions caused my heart to ache. I pressed my fisted hands to my chest; the urge to hug Max was strong.
“Let me tell you something about friends, Max. Up until high school, everyone’s just figuring themselves out. They’re trying to make themselves look cool, doing things that they don’t want to do, changing themselves to fit in with everyone else. Then, after high school, you learn that it’s our differences that make us cool. And your real friends, those who like you for being yourself? They’re the ones that have your back and stick with you.”
There were tears in my eyes once Jace was done, his words hitting home in more ways than one.Jace just gave Max more fatherly advice in one night, than David ever had.
“What if I never find one?”
Max’s tiny voice broke my heart.
“If you’re lucky, you’ll find that person before high school. If not, you’ll find them eventually. You gotta keep trying and see who sticks. But you won’t find them, if you don’t try. And you certainly won’t find one, if you’re not being yourself.”
Jace’s words put it back together.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
