She was in a study. The room was small and dim, with slants of sunlight coming through the curtains ajar over the windows. Dust motes danced in the beams as Iris stood in the doorway to the room, looking around. The walls were lined with bookshelves, all of them stuffed with old, worn books. There […]

Andrew’s phone rang as he was debating advertising options on social media and drinking yet another glass of orange juice to try and ease the hangover from last night’s sleepover with Cleo. The sound made him cringe as he looked over and saw Iris’s name on the screen. “Hey, Iris,” he greeted as he answered, […]

The next morning, Cleo was still a little hungover as she pulled into what she hoped was a legal parking space outside of her building in Brighton. She turned off her car and hesitated before opening the door. Now that she was actually here, she didn’t want to go inside and face Edie. It was […]

Later that night, Andrew and Cleo were sitting on his squashy, comfortable couch in the privacy of the Limerick’s upstairs flat. Work had been busy that day, but it still seemed to him to crawl by. Cleo had gone to see her mother in the afternoon and Andrew had half-expected her to resolve things with […]

Phone service sucked everywhere in New Winslow, but it was slightly better downtown than it was up by Liv and Noah’s house. So, while standing out behind the Limerick while waiting for Edie to pick up their phone was going to suck, it beat trying to hang onto the call and have this conversation expecting […]

When they got back to Olivia’s house, Noah and Mia were both asleep on the sofa. She was curled up on top of him, his arm protectively over her. Neither moved when the others came into the dim living room, which was lit only with a small string of colorful lights draped over the bookshelf. […]

By the time they closed the Limerick up that evening, Cleo was exhausted. But she knew she was far from the only one. Noah had tried to tell her to leave, that he had everything under control. But he was so shaky and green when he started working that she thought having him up front […]

Noah hadn’t wanted to eat the breakfast that both Roman and Liv had forced on him back at the diner, but right now he had to admit that it had helped. He was still horribly hungover, but he was up and functioning. And actually feeling a little better mentally after a long talk with Roman. […]

“Are you seriously going back there?” Edie demanded, standing bleary-eyed in the bedroom doorway as they watched Cleo pull on her boots. “You said you wouldn’t once your mom was out.” They looked pissed, maybe angrier than Cleo had ever seen. And she couldn’t really blame them. It was five o’clock in the morning and […]

He lost track of things after Andrew had pulled him to his feet, like the blood had all rushed away from his head, bringing his thoughts along with it. Noah was in bed now and Andrew was talking to him, something about finding his way home. You keep finding your way home, Andrew was saying. […]