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Back We're All in This Together
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Friday
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. Saturday
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. TEN
  18. Sunday
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. Monday
  35. TWENTY-SIX
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. EPILOGUE
  46. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The rescue team called the coroner. Radio stations cut into Rush and Nickleback to report the death of a woman at Kakabeka Falls. No one was making a joke of it yet, but they would – it’s natural selection, they said, modern-day Darwinism, where the stupid will fail to survive. But in the end it was Kate who had the last laugh – Kate with her two broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, two chipped front teeth, a ripped-off pinky nail, and a severe concussion. The barrel, the reports said, was actually what saved her life – hitting the rock face directly on one of the steel rings, which kept it from shattering, then trapping her in an air bubble when it flipped over, which saved her from drowning. No one could figure out how she didn’t get pulled down into the whirlpool. A one-in-a-million chance. Survival of the blind-luckiest. The giant pain in Darwin’s ass, smiling meekly on the homepage of the local news site, waving a trembling hand to the camera from the back of an ambulance before slipping into a coma on her way to the hospital.

“I’m not going home,” Finn said to Max, who just stared at her. “I’m not.”

Max spun around once and thumped down on the floor with a sigh, resting his chin on his paws.

She knew Max was right. If she didn’t go home now, she would never be able to go home again.

—

The stars are still out when Finn goes back inside and pours herself another glass of wine. She can hear Unremarkable Man in the bathroom, coughing – probably throwing up. She hopes that he will just leave, maybe sneak out the back door so she doesn’t ever have to talk to him again. Against her better judgment, she turns on the television, and as if she were the punchline of some great cosmic joke, the screen resolves into a photo of her mother. Finn immediately recognizes it as one taken at Shawn and Katriina’s wedding, Kate’s eyes focused on something beyond the camera, a dreamy expression on her face, her lips painted fuchsia, her grey curls pinned back with a huge white flower. At first Finn thinks she must be imagining it, too much wine and not enough sleep, a preoccupied subconscious. How did they get that picture?