Contents ( 42)
- The Art of Breathing
- Part One: How We Became Who We Are
- Prologue: Or, Where the Kid Hears the Word of the Day
- 1. Where Tyson Learns to Breathe
- 2. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 3. Where Tyson Graduates and Bear Freaks Out
- 4. Where Tyson Says Good-Bye
- 5. Where Tyson Gets the Mail
- Part Two: Coming Home
- 6. Where Tyson Comes Home
- 7. Where Tyson Gives a History Lesson
- 8. Where Tyson Attends the Most Awkward Party Ever
- 9. Where Tyson Plans Attends a Protest
- 10. Where Tyson Gets Arrested
- 11. Where Tyson Gets His Ass Handed to Him
- 12. Where Tyson Writes Bad Poetry and Gawks at Frat Boys
- 13. Where Tyson Decides to Man the Fuck Up
- 14. Where Tyson Asks Some Questions
- 15. Where Tyson Remembers Theresa Jean Paquinn
- 16. Where Tyson Learns the Benefit of Therapy
- 17. Where Tyson Meets the Man Who Becomes Helena Handbasket
- 18. Where Tyson Gets Screwed at His Own Birthday Party (And Not in a Good Way)
- Part Three: Just Breathe
- 19. Where Tyson Goes to Helena Handbasket’s Sex Dungeon
- 20. Where Tyson Beholds the Awesome Wonder That Is Paul Auster
- 21. Where Tyson Receives Advice from the Six Sages
- 22. Where Tyson Makes a Phone Call
- 23. Where Tyson Hears the Inevitable
- 24. Where Tyson Meets His Match
- 25. Where Tyson Says Hello, Where Tyson Says Good-bye
- 26. Where Tyson Touches upon the Inevitable
- 27. Where Tyson Faces the Music
- 28. Where Tyson Breathes
- 29. Tyson And Dominic
- 30. The Art Of Breathing
- Epilogue: Or, Bear’s Perspective, As It Were (Yeah, He’s Gonna Freak)
- Author’s Note
- Excerpt
- Prologue: Or, Where Bear Answers the Door
- More from TJ Klune
- Readers love the Bear, Otter, and the Kid Chronicles by TJ Klune
- By TJ Klune
“No, I forgot,” she says. “You just kissed. Leave it to you to turn something I wanted to be tawdry into something sickeningly sweet.” The smile fades from her face as her eyes grow serious. “You sure about this, Ty?”
“What? Dom? Going to Idaho? Tracking down my mother? Life in general?”
“Sure. Why not. All of the above.”
“I’ve never been less sure about anything in my entire life.”
“Well, as long as you’re not just half-assing it and all,” she says.
I rub my hands over my face. “Is it just me or is my life more than a little nuts?”
She laughs and kisses my cheek. “Honey, that’s what makes you you. You are so much bigger and stronger than you know. Anyone who has been through all that you have and can still stand on their own two feet is miraculous in itself. But to do what you’re about to do? Tyson, you’re amazing.”
I shake my head. “Or a glutton for punishment.”
“You’ll never know unless you try, right? And if it blows up in your face, you have all of us to make sure you can stand again. I promise.”
“I’m going to miss you,” I say, blinking away the tears. “Without you, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” she says, hugging me tight. “You call me, day or night. And I’ll be up to visit Seafare, and you can come back down here and bring your big, sexy brute of a man. Best friends don’t say good-bye, Ty. Especially not you and me.”
“You going to be okay here?” On top of everything else, I’m worried about leaving her here. Corey hasn’t come out since before we left for Tucson.
She nods as she pulls away. “I think so. I hope so. I’ll stay with Sandy for now, until I figure things out.”
“You will,” I tell her.
She wipes her eyes. “Look at this,” she scolds me. “You’re ruining my makeup. If you ever tell anyone you made me cry, I’ll punch you in your taint.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I think you’ll fit in here just fine.”
“Ty?”
“Yeah?”
“No matter what your mother says, can you remember something for me?”
“Yeah.”
“You are loved,” Kori says. “No matter what happens, you are loved.”
I hug her again. We stay that way. For a time.
“YOU READY?” Dom asks me, signaling to merge onto the freeway.
“I think so,” I say. Tucson begins to disappear behind us.
He reaches over and takes my hand in his. I marvel when he curls his fingers against mine. The weight and heat of his hand keep me tethered.
All I can do is breathe.