What We Keep by Jennifer Millikin

Author:Jennifer Millikin [Millikin, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JNM LLC
Published: 2024-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

Dani proposes to Cam one year later.

Cam becomes the bride I’d never guessed she’d be. She cares deeply about color schemes, flora, and a wooden arch she has commissioned.

I’d nearly laughed when she told me about the arch, then I realized she wasn’t kidding. Historically, my sister is the least romantic person on the planet. Famous movie love quotes make her skin crawl.

You complete me. What a dope, she’d said, adding an eye roll. Nobody else can complete you.

If you’re a bird, I’m a bird. Dumb, she’d declared. Why be a bird? Be a tubeworm. Those fuckers live forever.

Ah, my sister. She can ruin the best movies.

When she asked me to go with her to check in on the arch, I’d agreed without asking questions. Namely, where do we have to go to accomplish the check-in?

Sugar Creek, Arizona. A tiny town two hours up the Beeline Highway.

“Well,” Cam says, ducking into my car’s passenger seat and slamming the door behind her. A raindrop slithers off the shoulder of her lightweight jacket. “That was a boring drive.”

I’m inclined to agree. Caravaning is not on my list of what qualifies as a good time. Not by a long shot. Neither is what we’re about to do. “It was fine,” I respond, because today is special for her and I don’t want her to know that the further I drove from our home, the less I wanted to keep going. Inclining my head to Ruby in the backseat, I add, “Ruby and I listened to a couple podcasts.”

Cam glances at her car, parked in the space beside mine. “Of course you did.”

Ignoring the comment, I peer out at the nondescript building. The rain distorts the name, but I think it says Intricate Wood Works. “Where did you hear about this place?” Sugar Creek was always a name on a map, a little town up north, until now.

“Social media,” my sister says, while her tone says ‘duh.’ “You ready to go in? Because I’m ready. I want to see my arch.” She unsnaps the fabric strap wound around an umbrella. I slap at her hand when she starts to open it.

“Not in the car.” I frown at her. “Have you never operated an umbrella?”

She sticks her tongue out at me. “Only on rare occasions.”

To be fair, Phoenix doesn’t offer its inhabitants many opportunities to use umbrellas. My little sister isn’t a ‘just in case’ kind of a person, so it’s not like she’d be prepared even if the opportunity arose. She doesn’t keep a few dollars in the center console of her car, extra water on hand, or, in today’s case, an umbrella. I’d bet all the dollar bills and extra water in my car that the umbrella she’s awkwardly holding right now came from Dani.

“Give me that.” I take it from her and climb out of the car, opening the umbrella as I go. Rain pelts the asphalt parking lot, bouncing back at my feet. I walk around to Cam’s side of the car and hold the umbrella over her while she gets out.

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