Page 26 (1/2)
The Wrong Stars
ONE
In the evening of the last good day either of theirl pushed open the sliding glass door and stepped through onto the back porch
“Daddy?”
Will Innis set the legal pad aside and hter was small for eleven, felt like the shell of a child in his arms
“What are you doing out here?” she asked, and in her scratchy voice he could hear the reravel in her lungs
“Working up a close for ”
“Is your client the bad guy again?”
Will smiled “You and your mother I’m not really supposed to think of it that way, sweetheart”
“What’d he do?” His little girl’s face had turned ruddy in the sunset and the fading light brought out lighter strands in her otherwise-ht-dark hair
“He allegedly—”
“What’s that mean?”
“Allegedly?”
“Yeah”
“Means it’s not been proven He’s accused of selling drugs”
“Like what I take?”
“No, your drugs are good They help you He was selling, allegedly selling, bad drugs to people”
“Why are they bad?”
“Because they make you lose control”
“Why do people take them?”
“They like how it makes them feel”
“How does it make them feel?”
He kissed her forehead and looked at his watch “It’s after eight, Devi Let’s go bang on those lungs”
She sighed but didn’t argue She never tried to get out of it
He stood up, cradling his daughter, and walked over to the redwood railing
They stared into the wilderness that bordered Oasis Hills, their subdivision The houses on No-Water Lane had the Sonoran Desert for a backyard