Page 109 of I Am Sin

She sighs. “Heisgorgeous, isn’t he?”

I can’t see my sister because we’re not FaceTiming, but I’m betting she has that just-fucked look on her face. It’s sure coming through in her voice.

Damn.

I saw myself in the mirror after Dragon and I…

I’d never seen that look on myself before.

And I liked it. I liked it a lot.

“Everything’s cool here, Bree. Go lie on the beach.”

“Okay, sis. Ciao.”

I put my phone down and continue to eat my fruit salad.

And then my phone rings again.

ChapterThirty-Two

Dragon

We had a ring toss and a cornhole board in our backyard when I was little.

My dad used to play with me, and because I was way too little to toss the ring from where he could stand, I got to stand nearly on top of the thing, so I beat him every time.

Then he picked me up, threw me in the air, and said, “That’s my boy!”

I was four or five, and Mom was always stuck inside tending to Griffin.

Our grass was never green in the backyard. Colorado is notoriously dry, and if you don’t water your grass, it dies. Dad always kept the front yard watered so it looked good to passersby. But in our fenced backyard? He didn’t want to waste the money, so the grass always looked more like dirt.

That was okay with me. Little boys love dirt. I would run around in the backyard chasing bugs and butterflies and our old dog Cinnamon, who was my best friend.

She was a mutt. Looked a lot like a beagle. I loved that dog, and I was broken up when she died at the age of twelve, shortly before…

Fuck.

That’s how I think about my childhood.

There’s before.

And there’s after.

“Here you go,” my Uber driver says.

“Thanks.”

I get out of the car and stand in front of the house where I spent the first eight years of my childhood.

Looks the same, except that whoever lives there now doesn’t care about the front yard the way my father did. The grass is more brown than green.

The shrubs are the same, though much bigger now. The maple tree growing in front is huge, and the leaves have turned to gold and red.

I draw in a deep breath and walk to the front door.

I hate doorbells, so I knock.