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Back Never Look Back Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-One
  24. Twenty-Two
  25. Twenty-Three
  26. Twenty-Four
  27. Twenty-Five
  28. Twenty-Six
  29. Twenty-Seven
  30. Twenty-Eight
  31. Twenty-Nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-One
  34. Thirty-Two
  35. Thirty-Three
  36. Thirty-Four
  37. Thirty-Five
  38. Thirty-Six
  39. Thirty-Seven
  40. Thirty-Eight
  41. Thirty-Nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-One
  44. Forty-Two
  45. Forty-Three
  46. Acknowledgments
  47. P.S. Insights, Interviews & More . . .*
  48. About the Author
  49. About the Book
  50. Also by Alison Gaylin
  51. About the Publisher

Quentin hadn’t. But he didn’t need to. Over the shoulder of the young George Pollard loomed the gas station’s sign. It was an Arco station. He couldn’t make out all the details of the mural on the wall beneath the sign, but he could still tell what it depicted: Noah’s Ark and all the animals. George Pollard was standing in the spot where Kimmy Sharkey had been killed. Quentin’s gaze went back to the subject line, a chill at the back of his neck.

April Cooper is alive, it read.

Three

June 10, 1976

4:00 A.M.

Dear Aurora Grace,

Did you know that if you were to drop a penny from the top of the Empire State Building and it was to hit someone, it would go right through that person’s skull? But if you hold that penny in your hand, it’s shiny and harmless. It can even be good luck.

We’re going somewhere, Gabriel and me. We’re leaving in ten minutes. I am in the bathroom, writing this very quickly, so if I spell things wrong, that’s why.

Before I came in here, Gabriel asked me if I’m on his team. I said yes. He asked if I still love him. I said yes to that too, and he took the gun away from my head. He told me I’m the best thing that ever happened to him, that we will escape from here and move far away where we can always be together.

I wanted to tell Gabriel that I’m not a thing to happen to him. I’m a person, a human being. But then I thought about Jenny and changed my mind. I told Gabriel it was Papa Pete who made me break up with him and that I’ve always loved him and will love him until the end of the world, just like we promised. I hope Papa Pete forgives me for telling that lie, and that when I meet him in heaven, he will understand.

I made myself touch Gabriel. I put my hand to his cheek and felt a tear. Gabriel’s tear. I tried to make myself cry too, just to get him to love and trust me even more, but I couldn’t. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to cry again.

Gabriel called me his angel. I called him my lucky penny. He seemed to like that.

5:20 A.M.

We’re in Papa Pete’s Cavalier. Gabriel is driving. I’m stretched out in the back seat. He thinks I’m sleeping.

He told me to pack a bag, and so I did. Here is what I’m taking, besides clothes and my toothbrush: