Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“Daddy doesn’t like it cuz I sometimes forget to delete the pictures from his phone,” Gus said apologetically.
“I go in there to look at a cute picture of my daughter and end up staring into the maw of a tarantula!”
“What’s a maw?” Gus asked, screwing up her face.
“A scary mouth,” Zachary said.
“Okay, well you should follow me on Instagram anyway,” Gus said.
“I don’t have an account,” Bram said. “Sorry. It sounds great, though. I’ll check it out.”
“I like bugs. I’ll follow you.”
“Thank you, Zachary! I’m RealScientistGus.”
Zachary took out his phone.
When the local news team assembled to make the announcement, the residents of Casper Road and all the trick-or-treating visitors still on-site gathered in the street.
“You nervous?” Bram asked Zachary.
Zachary snorted. “No.”
“Ooh, overconfident, huh?” Bram teased, kissing him. “Maybe it’s the Purcells’ year!”
Zachary scoffed and kissed him again, then slid his hand into Bram’s, bouncing in place with excitement.
Tamara Michaelson, the newscaster from KCWY, said a few words about the annual competition, then paused dramatically. Bram shoved his hands in his pockets and forced himself to act natural.
“And the winner of this year’s competition...is house number 667, Bram Larkspur!”
There was a silence, and then scattered applause, but Bram only cared about one person’s reaction.
Zachary’s jaw dropped.
“Whaaaa?” he said to Tamara Michaelson, shocked. “Did you get confused—?!” Then he clamped a hand over his mouth for a moment. “I mean, um.” He turned to Bram. “Congratulations?”
Zachary was so clearly forcing himself to say something nice but Bram could practically see him scanning both their houses trying to figure out how things could have gone so terribly awry.
Bram laughed, utterly delighted with Zachary’s reaction and with himself for managing to keep the secret.
“Gotcha!” he said to Zachary, not able to wait one more moment for the reveal. “Final prank! I got them to say that. Oh my god, your face. I win the prank war!”
Zachary’s eyes got even wider, and an impressed smile crossed his face.
“I can’t believe you did that!”
“Yeah, Moon’s gonna be so impressed. Also pissed because she just lost naming rights for her next dog to me.”
It was a testament to how positive his sister had been that he wasn’t going to be able to keep his final prank a secret that she’d accepted the bet.
“Wow,” Zachary said. “I guess you found your competitive spirit after all.”
“Learned from the best,” Bram began, but he was interrupted.
“Just kidding, folks,” Tamara Michaelson said. “The winner is...our first-ever joint victory, number 667 and number 666, Bram Larkspur and—for the seventh time—Zachary Glass, for the collaborative theme of Ghost Ship!”
Now the crowd cheered unequivocally, and Zachary leaned over, looking very pleased with himself. He brought his lips to Bram’s ear and whispered, “I got them to say that.”
Bram froze. Zachary had given up what surely would have been another solo victory to include him?
The crowd faded away. The street faded away. Everything that wasn’t Zachary Glass receded into the distance.
Bram pulled him tight and looked into his eyes.
“I love you,” he said. “I really...damn, I really love you.”
He felt tears filling his eyes and Zachary’s face went slack.
“You...you do?”
“Hell yeah, I do.”
“But. But I. But I’m...me,” Zachary concluded.
“Yup. Exactly. I love you.”
“But.”
Zachary didn’t seem to have a follow-up to this, so Bram just gathered him in his arms and squeezed him tight. He didn’t need Zachary to say it back yet. He didn’t even need Zachary to understand. Because he, Bramble Larkspur, knew exactly how he felt and what he wanted, and he didn’t need anyone else to tell him it was okay.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Zachary
The day after Halloween, winter swept through Garnet Run like it had been waiting in the wings.
Zachary didn’t mind the winter, but this year it seemed incongruous. He’d never felt more like spring. Everything was changing, blooming, and he had a kind of energy that couldn’t be contained.
Which came in handy, since taking down the Halloween decorations and cleaning up Casper Road after the insurgence of hundreds of candy-scarfing, litterbug children was significantly less fun than preparing for it.
One week after Halloween, on a cold Monday morning, Zachary was answering emails when Fisk requested a video chat.
Zachary’s heart pounded.
The night before, he’d dreamed of Sarah again, but this dream hadn’t left him shaken or afraid. In it, she’d been putting on makeup to go out with friends and he’d been sitting on her bed, watching the ritual of application as he often had.
She’d put on glossy red lipstick as a finishing touch, then kissed his cheek, leaving a lip print behind. “Love you, Z-man,” she’d said before bouncing out the door.
He’d woken with the words echoing in his mind. The lipstick thing had actually happened several times, and he’d hated it. Hated the sticky feeling and the waxy residue left on his skin even once he’d wiped it off. But he’d never told her to stop because it was a ritual that was theirs alone.