Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83040 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 415(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Holy fuck. I mean, of course I knew he was here. But I was not expecting him to be present when I started telling my fake story about my fake parents to my fake brother.
There is a fleeting moment here when I almost panic, but luckily, Collin is looking at me, talkin’, so when Shep ducks away real fast, Collin doesn’t even notice.
Hmmm. I guess Shep is as nervous about seeing me in front of Collin as I am of him.
“Olive?”
“Huh?” I look up at my brother. Who doesn’t feel fake at all. Not even a tiny bit.
“I said, where are Mom and Dad?”
“Oh. They’re in Florida. Pensacola. You haven’t talked to them?”
Collin scoffs. “Not in many, many years. They disowned me, I think.”
I frown. Because I didn’t know this. I mean, I suspected they were not close, but I’m not close with them either so I didn’t get any updates after CORE took over my life. I don’t actually know where they live. Maybe Pensacola? Maybe not. It’s just a story.
“What about you?” Collin asks. “Are you close?”
“No. Not really.” I look up at him, readying the lies. “I dropped out of college.”
“Why?”
“I hated it.”
“So what do you do?”
“I’m an influencer.”
“What?” Now he’s laughing. But his eyes are shining with amusement. “What kind of influencer?”
“I’m a van-life girl.”
“Stop it.” He laughs.
“I am! I swear. I’m just in between vans at the moment. But I have a whole channel of content. Gypsy Compass. Look me up.” The channel is real, but the girl doing it is actually AI. It’s all fake. Even the destinations, which are mostly state and national parks with a smidge of coastal Mexico thrown in for variety.
“What happened to your van?”
“It got stolen. Just last week, actually. And it wasn’t far away, so after dealing with the insurance, I decided to look you up. That’s how I got here.”
While Collin is thinking about all this, I watch as Shep makes his way over to a brown building and disappears inside.
I have an irrational urge to ask Collin about him, but I hold it in. He can’t know that Shep and I know each other. That, despite Collin being the official reason I’m here, it’s Shep I want to see.
Then I hear, “Oh, my God! Is that little Olive?” And then Lowyn McBride, a girl I kinda thought of as a sister when I was small, is bounding down the porch steps of an old house with her arms wide open, ready to give me a hug.
I let her do this and then, as if she and Collin are the same person, she pushes me out to arm’s length and takes a good look at me. “You’re gorgeous, Olive. Absolutely stunning. Do people tell you that all the time?”
My laugh comes out immediately. “Um… no? No. They really don’t.”
Brose does tell me nice things, but it comes off as platitudes. And I don’t actually interact with anyone else these days, so… this isn’t even a lie.
“Oh, that’s crazy. You’re hanging around the wrong people then.”
And before I can make any more decisions or have any thoughts at all, actually, I’m being pulled up the porch steps and led through the door of the house.
The next thing I know I’m sitting at the kitchen table of a very bright and modern kitchen and Lowyn McBride is setting a cup of coffee in front of me. She gives Collin one too, then sits down next to him.
I squirm a little when they stare at me as a team, but manage to smile and take a sip of my drink to buy time. I don’t know what comes next. Meeting Collin was always a hypothetical. This wasn’t planned, I’m not supposed to be here, and Brose is missing.
So I don’t know what to say.
“Do you need anything?” Lowyn asks. “I’m about to head into work. I run a vintage thrift store in Disciple, so if ya do, you can come along and check it out.”
“Oh…” I stall. “I… well, I’m kind of tired, actually. So if it’s OK, maybe I could just hang out here for a little bit?”
Collin looks at me like he wants to ask questions, but Lowyn gets there first. “Sure,” she says. “You make yourself at home. I’ll be back late afternoon, but you’ll be here, right, Collin?”
“Well, I’ve got some meetings in the office,”—he nods his head to indicate some place outside the house—“but I’ll be around. So yeah, sure. Rest. We’ll catch up tonight at dinner.”
“There’s a guest room right down there, Olive. You unpack your bag there and settle in.”
Then they both get up, so I get up too, and we all hug one more time before they leave to go about their days.
I watch from the front window as the two of them linger near what I assume to be Lowyn’s car, then Collin opens her door, lets her get in, and closes it behind her.