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Maybe this is where I’m supposed to be

And

The timer on the stove beeps, and I pull the cookies out and tap the tray on the counter so they flatten and the tops crack—an old trick Giada taught me

As soon as they’re cool enough to touch, I steal one and plate the others, leaving them on the kitchen island for Dad and Odette

I could get used to the quiet life

Notables Nofrom fruitless audition to fruitless audition I can’t remember the last tio a whole ithout soeye contact with them

The city life isn’t as glaht it would be

Some days I’d look outto work in thein their power suits and Italian leather loafers, one by one, all in a row, like ants on a farm Other days, I’d marvel at how a person could feel so lonely in a city with millions of other people

I retire to my room, pullin Northcutt

Ten minutes later, I’ve submitted my resume

Here’s to chance, here’s to going wherever the wind blowsas it’s not New York

28

Wyatt

The sickeningly sweet scent of funnel cakes and cotton candy flood the air Friday night as Cash, McCoy, and I work our way through the festival crowd I didn’t plan on coave ave in

“I want to ride that one,” McCoy says, tugging on his daddy’s aroes upside down and every which way

Cash shootsmy hands in the air

“That one’s all yours,” I say

I don’t knohat it’s like to have kids, but I is you don’t want to do because it puts a smile on their face

Cash and McCoy head for theline, and I spot an empty picnic bench nearby to bide h trails from a crowd of women a few yards away

I haven’t seen nor heard frowithout a care in the world Brushing her dark waves over her suntanned shoulder, she scans the grassy fairway … stopping when she notices me

Maybe it was dumb luck

Or ht of my stare was so heavy it pulled her out of her conversation

Either way, she doesn’t look away and neither do I