them away. Whether it was a bad idea or not, it was going to happen.
“Oh my God, I think I’m going to puke,” Maya said, wheeling her bike into Grace’s garage.
“I already did,” Grace admitted. “Twice.”
“Seriously? Are you pregnant again?”
“Ha. No.”
Maya just grinned at her, but the smile quickly fell from her face. “I don’t know. Is this a bad idea? Are we idiots?”
“I don’t know, and probably.”
“Oh God, I really am going to barf.”
“Please stop saying that,” Grace said. “Do I look okay?”
“You look amazing. You look very . . . you. What about me?”
“You look great. Wait, what do you mean, very . . . me?”
Maya smiled. “You look very clean.”
“What does that mean!” Grace yelled, and was about to turn around and run back up the stairs so she could change her outfit for the eleventh time, when Joaquin’s car swung into the driveway.
Even before he got out of the car, Grace could tell that something was off. The way he parked the car was all wrong, in one fast motion that ended too sharply.
“Whoa,” Maya said next to her.
“I’m not going” was the first thing Joaquin said when he got out of the car.
“Ha!” Maya cried. “Nice try. Anyone else have to pee before we get on the road?”
“No, I’m serious,” he said. “Take the car if you want, I don’t care. But I’m not going.”
Grace felt like she had missed the second act of a three-act play. “Wait, what are you even talking about?” she said. “What happened? Why are you being like this?”
Joaquin was now pacing in front of the car. “I can’t go. I’m not.”
“But why?”
“Because!” he cried. “I ruin fucking everything!” He ran a hand through his hair, but it just flopped back into place like he had never touched it. “I’m the worst thing that could have happened to you. Either of you. Don’t you understand?”
Maya just crossed her arms and watched Joaquin pace. “Are you done?” she said. “Because we should get going.”
“I just told you. You’re going without me.”
“Nope,” Maya said. “This is an all-or-nothing thing.” She grabbed her bag and started to walk toward the car, then turned around when Joaquin didn’t follow her. “C’mon, Grace,” she said.
Grace stayed where she was. “Joaq, what happened?” she asked again. “You’re practically shaking.”
“I just . . . I can’t go back to Mark and Linda’s.”
“What? Why?”
“We had a fight. I ruined it. I pretty much obliterated it. Burned it to the ground.” Joaquin was chuckling to himself, but Grace thought it sounded more like a sob. “They’re not going to let me back in.”
“Did they say that?” Maya called from where she was standing by the passenger-side door.
“They didn’t have to.”
“Well, we’re not going without you,” Grace told him. “C’mon—we can talk about it in the car.”
“No!” Joaquin said. “Are you not listening to me? I don’t want to ruin this, too. Not for you.”
“Can you open the doors, please?” Maya called.
Joaquin ignored her. “Here,” he said, tossing the keys to Grace. “Just text me when you get back.” Then his face changed. “I left my phone at their house. Shit.”
Grace felt like she was scrambling to stay ahead of a tornado. “Joaquin,” she said, then stepped forward and put her hand on his arm. “If you don’t want to meet our mom, that’s fine. That’s totally fine. But if you’re not going because you think you’ll ruin it? Then that’s not fine. And it’s not true, either.”
Joaquin shook his head. “Look, you two are my sisters, right? You’re my family. I won’t hurt you like that.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Maya suddenly screamed, and they both turned around to see her still standing next to the car, hands on hips.
“That’s exactly what family is, Joaquin!” Maya shouted at him. “It means that no matter where you go, no matter how far you run, you’re still a part of me and Grace and we’re still a part of you, too! Look at us! It took us fifteen years to find each other, but we still did! And sometimes, family hurts each other. But after that’s done you bandage each other up, and you move on. Together. So you can go and think that you’re some lone wolf, but you’re not! You’ve got us now, like it or not, and we’ve got you. So get in this fucking car and let’s go!”
Grace looked at Joaquin.
Joaquin looked at Maya.
And then he got in the fucking car.
“Thank you,” Maya sighed, then looked toward Grace.