Chapter 32

He toyed with the idea of leaving his cell at home, the better not to receive Mal’s constant Where are you and why aren’t you at my beck and call?texts. But what if something happened to Great-aunt Josie and Great-uncle Artur or—God forbid and more likely—Aunt Sarah? He had to have that constant, instant lifeline to Patience, their appropriately named aide, who looked out for Aunt Sarah as well. Otherwise, he might’ve ditched the cell. There were few he needed to respond to urgently—certainly not his parents, who rarely contacted him, and certainly not Smalley.

It irked him, though, not to have parents for whom he was the sun that rose and set. Maybe that’s why he gave Tam’s hand an extra squeeze as they drove down I-95 and headed for the Garden State Parkway—counting the water towers as their official car game and singing along to The Mamas & the Papas.