Chapter 26

“Can I come on back?” I asked, even as she moved toward me.

Taking my hand, she pulled me to her to claim a quick kiss. I heard her brother grunt in disgust, but when I stood back, I saw his Other watching us openly. She quickly turned away when she saw me notice. “Just wait another few years,” I cautioned them. “Then you’ll be kissing on each other all the time, too.”

Her brother screwed up his face. “Yeah, right.”

His Other threw an elbow into his side. “You better kiss me, Donny. If you don’t, I’ll go ask the Overseer to give me someone else.”

Like that had ever happened before. But Brin’s brother blushed from the roots of his light brown hair all the way down to his chin, and he studiously ignored us as we left the house.

Outside, I draped an arm around Brin’s shoulders. “Ah, to be young and stupid again,” I joked.

“He’ll grow out of it,” Brin assured me. “You used to be that way, you know.”

“Me? Never.”