Chapter 2

“How’s it going?” Her voice was sleep-rasped and froggy.

“Fine.” He motioned to the piles of clothes, the closet door open. “Are the boxes downstairs?”

“Yeah, they’re in the dining room. Want me to bring them up?”

“Sure.” He glanced around the room. “You should go through some of this yourself, take what you want.”

Juliana crossed her arms, her back stiff. “I don’t want any of it.”

“What does that mean?”

“It just means I don’t want it.” Juliana shrugged, a sulky dismissal. “It was stupid, the way he died. He never should have fought those robbers. He was stupid.”

Hector’s mouth dropped open. “What? What did you just say?” He came around the bed, one fist clenched around a pair of socks. His vision fluttered red in front of him, heated.

“Look where it got him! Where it got us, Hector. He left us alone, it was stupid.” Her arms flailed as the hot words spilled out of her mouth. “That frigging store, I’m so sick of hearing about it.”