Page 488 of Face Off

“Why does he know that?”

“I don’t know. Every answer he gives creates more questions. Probably street kid shit.”

She looks at me. “Can you pick locks?”

“Duh.”

She tries to hold her ground, but her eyes fill. I point the spatula at her. “No. Fuck that. Tears are manipulation.”

Charm shakes her head.

“Do not cry because I don’t want Briggs living in our backyard.”

“I’m not trying to manipulate you.”

“That is exactly what your face is doing.”

A tear slips down her cheek and the irritation leaves me so fast it frightens me. I set the spatula down and step toward her. “Hey.”

She wipes at her face, but another tear replaces the first.

“Hey, calm down, mi hada.” I cup her cheeks. “Why does this have you this upset?”

“You’re his roots, Ryan.”

My hands still.

“I know you joke about him. I know annoying each other is your thing, and half the time I can’t tell whether you’re fighting or having fun.” Her hands close around my wrists. “But you’re his roots, baby. I think he’s yours too.”

I look away.

“He needs you,” she says. “He still struggles with Lyric. He doesn’t try to move on. He fucks random women and then gets drunk enough to call her.”

My attention snaps back to her. “He’s fucking random women should be the first con on your list.”

“He is single and should be moving on.”

“Do you want to cook them breakfast when they make the walk of shame from his guesthouse?”

“Ryan.”

“Do you?”

She doesn’t laugh.

I close my eyes and breathe. Images move behind them faster than I can stop them.

Briggs showing up in Flint with no plan beyond keeping me from disappearing inside myself. Briggs sprawled across my couch every night until I stopped asking when he intended to leave. Briggs following me to Milwaukee because I needed grounding and he needed somewhere to belong. Briggs drinking my beer, stealing my food, invading every silent part of my life until the silence stopped feeling like it might swallow me.

Briggs calling Lyric when he is drunk enough to forget what she did to him. Briggs eating cereal on my kitchen floor because going home alone felt worse. Briggs looking at Charm in my apartment and telling her I saved him.

He never told me that. He would never tell me that.

Charm did.

“He needs a home that won’t disappear when we move,” she whispers. “I don’t want him wondering whether there’s still a place for him in your life. He should be able to see it.”

“You want to buy him a house.”