John snaps his fingers. “Bratz! That’s it. I never liked ’em. Thing gave me the willies. But she spent months begging us for that silly thing. Promising good grades and a clean room. Anything and everything. She even talked that one”—John points over to Jake— “into a crazy scheme.” John chuckles and Jake sighs. “Going door to door, they told all the neighbors they were collecting for kids in need.” John slaps his thigh with a hearty laugh.

“Mom lost her mind. Chewed my ass so hard some of it’s still growing back. We went door to door again, returning the money and apologizing.” Jake sinks down on the couch next to his dad. “We spent weeks saving. Extra chores, lemonade stands and saving our allowance. And after all that, she played with the damn thing for a day and tossed it!”

“Language,” Jenny snaps, her hands covering Miguel’s little ears. She side-eyes me. “It was longer than that.”

“A week. Tops. She’s a stubborn brat when you tell her she can’t have something, but once she gets it…pffft.” He scoffs. “Nothing keeps Jessie Bird interested for long.”

That makes three. Jessie’s entire family seems to think she’s incapable of caring about much for long. These people know her, inside and out. They love her unconditionally, that much is clear. But even they don’t suffer any illusions about how fast she’ll move on.

I lean back into my chair and let it all settle in. Jessie is all about the chase. My first instinct was right about her—she’s not in anything for the long haul. She just likes shaking shit up and disappearing. Fine. We can do that, Jessie Bird. I’ll get mine and get out before you have a chance to be bored.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Jessie

My dad clears his throat behind me while Jamie’s drying off the last of the pots and I’m filling up the dishwasher.

“About done?” he asks.

“Just about,” Jamie answers.

Dad grabs an extra dishrag off the counter and takes the pan from Jamie. “I’ll finish up,” he says.

“Yes!” my little brother shouts, escaping out of the kitchen faster than a flash of lightning.

“Hey! Why does he get an early release?” I pout, shutting the dishwasher.

Dad keeps his eyes focused on the dish in front of him. “Because I want to talk to my favorite daughter.”

“Your only daughter.”

“Which is why it’d be bad if you weren’t my favorite,” he jokes.

I chuckle, picking up Jamie’s discarded dishrag and drying off a saucepan. I gesture to the living room. “Devin surviving out there?”

Dad nods. “He was alive when I left.”

“Good. I prefer to keep him that way.”

“Something tells me he’s seen worse than your brothers.”