Chapter 20

Marie’s POV

Luke: birthday party tonight at the club. everyone's gonna be there. come through, i'll be personally offended if you don't

Me: everyone who

Luke: EVERYONE. just show up marie jesus

It's been a few quiet days since we got back — nothing has really happened, nothing worth naming, just the strange, low-grade adjustment of being home again after a week that still doesn't feel fully real — and a party sounds like exactly the kind of noise I could use right now.

***

2010

Luke turned ten the same week his parents left for two weeks in Cancún without him, which nobody found out about until Tristan's mom asked why he was staying at their house so much that particular Tuesday.

We threw him a party anyway. The three of us — me, Dean, Tristan — pooling whatever cash we had, which wasn't much, buying a box mix cake from the gas station and decorating Tristan's g