2011: It's been ten years since the sky literally came crashing down around Yael Malkah and upended her world. Now she's returned to New York to visit her ailing grandmother. With no other family, it's up to her to take care of the family business...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After an unbelievable day with Yael, Haustin felt renewed, invincible—which explained his call to Lindsey on Monday morning, out of the blue, asking if the kids could come to his place for dinner. His request had startled her, but she didn't say no, surprising him in return. The kids' reaction, on the other hand, couldn't have been more defeating. Even now, they sat at the kitchen table with their phones; Miles playing some game with pigs and birds in it and Luna texting as if her life depended on it, probably complaining to the world what a loser her dad was. He wondered why the pair even had phones. Who did ten-year-olds have to call?
He alternated between trying not to scowl at them and watching the lasagna in the oven, the constant tap-tap-tap of their fingers on the screens grating his frayed nerves. He hoped their favorite meal eased the awkwardness. Haustin might not be the world's best cook by any means, but he'd perfected his mom's recipe over the years. According to her, there was nothing her legendary lasagna couldn't fix.
With a bittersweet grin, he thought of his mom, her heart-shaped face, and the way she kept her hair in a tight bun, except for the nights he caught her dancing in the kitchen with his dad. Those nights her curls fell down her back in blond waves, and the smiles on their faces held what he imagined was the secret to happiness. Their successful marriage had been an inspiration, and his chest ached whenever he dwelled on how drastically he'd shamed them.
Determined to keep the night from traveling dark roads, he ensured his tone was light when he said, "Luna, honey, why don't you set the table and Miles can pour the drinks. This is about ready."
She rolled her icy blue eyes and went about the task in a huff. He prayed to God for the patience to guide him through her teenage years. She'd done something different with her hair since the last time he saw her, too. It was full of different colored highlights, blond and light brown. A pang jolted through his chest.
He felt very, very old at thirty-six.
His struggle to maintain the conversation during dinner turned into an epic disaster, and he found himself grasping for things to say.
"It's been hot this month," he said.
Luna remained quiet, but Miles threw himself into the conversation. "I heard on the news that it's supposed to get worse. Jimmy's dad thinks global warming is a conspiracy."
"Who knows." Haustin took a bite and chewed, scrambling for an intelligent response. "Most people who go around calling everything a conspiracy are just paranoid."
"His dad is a physicist."
"He's smarter than me, then. All I know is sure, weather changes, but it's impossible to deny that humans are hurting the planet in ways we've never done before. Doesn't mean some billionaire is messing with it from the basement of his mansion so people will buy more of his snow tires or petroleum."
"Is that a movie?" Miles's demeanor brightened.
"No. I don't think so."
"It'd be good. Kind of like an evil Tony Stark. Except Stark made weapons until he became Iron Man. I heard they're expanding a lot of the Marvel comics into movies. Captain America, then Thor and even the Avengers. It's going to be so cool."
