"Next week," I say. "Did you book your flights? To see your grandma."

"Oh, not yet." She sighs. "She's been rather annoying, about Noah. She loves him. More than she loves me, I think, sometimes."

I think so too, but I don't tell her that.

"So, she's disappointed. I still want to be there for her surgery, but I'm figuring out timing. Lisa let me off this Friday, so I can leave right after class. I think I just want to come back Saturday."

"I'll come with you," I tell her, earning one of those many astounded looks.

It happens often. Every time she realizes people think she matters, in fact.

It will be my distinct pleasure to meet the woman who made Claire believe she is only entitled to conditional affection, and deserving of swift reprisal for expressing any desire.

"You will?"

"If you'd like me to." I shrug. "Sounds like you're worried about what she'll say. She might be less annoying in company."

"She absolutely would be less annoying in company," Claire asserts. "But she'd also totally blow my phone up about having another guy so quickly."

She chews on her lip.

Fine, fine, that makes sense. I'll glare at the bitch some other time. "I'll stay at the hotel. Study or whatever. It'll be nice for you to have company after dealing with her, right?"

"Thanks, Keller. That's…so thoughtful."

And absolutely not something she would have expected. "I'll book the tickets."

33. Claire

33

CLAIRE

“What do you think about this one?” I ask, sharing my fifth—or is it sixth?—unicorn.

Keller glances over the complex anatomy graphic he’s using, spelling the complex names of body parts, ailments or cures. Ever so patient, he looks at it in detail. “I like it more than the first, but the second is still my fav.”

I wrinkle my nose, returning to my second draft. The unicorn looks fierce and smug. “Yeah, it was pretty good.”

I don’t know what’s stopping me.

“Do you want my opinion?” Keller asks while I work on the eighth version, determined to capture the majesty of the second, with a bit more humor.

Arlo did pitch a children’s range after all.

“Send the lot. Or maybe just the best four or five. Most prints rarely feature only one drawing. Add some ornaments, some fun doodles. Maybe a dragon. Arlo is crazy about The Hobbit. And a dire wolf. He likes Game of Thrones, too.”

“He does?” Somehow, I can’t picture Arlo, Mr. Model himself, into nerdy stuff. “What’s your favorite creature?”

Keller grins at me. “Pegasi.”

I gasp, suddenly knowing just what was missing in the second drawing. I liked it, but he truly was too fierce for a unicorn.

Returning to my drawing, I execute the necessary modifications, removing the horn, reworking the coloring to a palomino and white tail, rather than the pink with rainbow braids. A folded pair of wings, and voila.