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Prologue

1993

Darrin and Marybeth, Age 7

“Stop staring at me!”

“No,” the little boy, who’d been staring at her ever since her o, said with a careless shrug

With an annoyed sigh, she decided to ignore hio away so that she could sit there glaring at her brother in peace as hethe ice creaiven hi bite out of his ice cream sandwich Marybeth narrowed her eyes on her older brother before she shifted her gaze away, refusing to give her brother the satisfaction of seeing her upset

“He had it co her attention back up to find him still perched on the branch above her head

“I know,” she bit out with a glare

The boy looked thoughtful before he added, “He cries like a girl”

“I know that, too”

“Do you want ainst the tree

For a ht pause she shook her head with a sigh “No, that’s okay,” she said, already knowing that she’d get her brother back later for telling on her

“You don’t look like your aze to hertheir car

She sighed heavily as she lay back on the overgrown grass and waited for the question that would probably have her reaching for the stick next to her and throwing it at his head He’d want to know if she’d been adopted and when she told hi out the fact that her ray eyes while she had black hair, a dark tan and green eyes She could tell him that she looked like her father, but she wouldn’t do that, because it would only lead to

“You’re prettier,” he announced, ain

“You’re a bad liar,” she said, blindly reaching out and grabbing the stick so that she could focus on peeling bark off it instead of how much his words had pleased her

“Why do you think I’ curious

With a sigh, she gestured towards herto the movers “Because everyone says she’s beautiful”

“So?” he asked with a frown “That doesn’t mean that she’s prettier than you”

“I’h, because she actually liked talking to him

“I know,” he said with a huge grin “I heard your mother when she told you to stay away from us”

“Sorry about that,” she said with a shrug, not knohat else to say

“The pizza delivery guy forgotwith one of his own as if that explained the terrifying scene that had o It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the movers hadn’t been forced to intervene and the cops hadn’t showed up

“If you already know that I’m not allowed to talk to you then why are you here?” she asked, wondering how er it would be before her mother remembered that she was still in time out

Probably not for a while, she thought with a sigh

“Because I called dibs,” he said with a shrug as he shifted on the large branch until he was lying on his stomach on the branch above her

“Dibs? On what?”