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time.
Suddenly she remembered something Daniel had said, about her mother making bad boiled cabbage
in that past life. At the time, she hadn t dwelled on it, but now it made a little bit more sense.
Doreen was an amazing cook. Everyone in east Georgia knew that.
Which meant Shelby must be right. Luce probably had a whole nation of past families she couldn t
even remember.
I m so stupid, she said. Why hadn t she paid more attention to the way the man and woman
looked? Why hadn t she felt the slightest connection to them? She felt like she d lived her whole
life and only now found out she was adopted. How many times had she been handed off to different
parents? This is This is
Totally messed up, Shelby said. I know. On the bright side, you could probably save yourself a
lot of money for therapy if you could look back at all your other families, see all the problems you
had with hundreds of mothers before this one.
Luce buried her face in her hands.
That is, if you need family therapy. Shelby sighed. Sorry, who s talking about themselves
again? She raised her right hand, then slowly put it down. You know, Shasta s not that far from
here.
What s Shasta?
Mount Shasta, California. It s just a few hours that-away. Shelby jerked her thumb toward the
north.
But the announcers only show the past. What would be the point of going there now? They re
probably
Shelby shook her head. The past is a broad term. Announcers show the distant past right up to
the events happening seconds ago, and everything in between. I saw a laptop on the desk in the cor-
ner, so there s a good chance & you know &
But we don t know where they live.
Maybe you don t. Me, I zoomed in on a piece of their mail and got the address. Committed it to
memory. 1291 Shasta Shire Circle, apartment 34. Shelby shrugged. So, if you wanted to go visit
them, we could totally drive there and back in a day.
Right. Luce snorted. She desperately wanted to go visit them, but it just didn t seem possible. In
whose car?
Shelby laughed a faux-sinister little laugh. There was only one thing that wasn t sorry-ass about
my sorry-ass ex-boyfriend. She dug into the pocket of her sweatshirt, pulling out a long key chain.
And that was his very sweet Mercedes, parked right here in the student lot. Lucky for you, I forgot
to give him back the extra key.
They tore down the road before anyone could stop them.
Luce found a map in the glove compartment and traced the line up to Shasta with her finger. She
called out some directions to Shelby, who drove like a bat out of Hell, but the maroon Mercedes al-
most seemed to like the abuse.
Luce wondered how Shelby was staying so calm. If Luce had just broken up with Daniel and bor-
rowed his car for the afternoon, she wouldn t be able to stop herself from remembering road trips
they d taken, or arguments they d gotten into while driving to a movie, or what they d done in the
backseat that one time with all the windows rolled down. Surely Shelby was thinking about her ex.
Luce wanted to ask, but Shelby had been clear that the topic was off-limits.
Are you going to change your hair? Luce asked finally, remembering what Shelby had said about
getting over breakups. I could help you, if you are.
Shelby s face pinched into a scowl. That freak s not even worth it. After a long pause, she added,
But thank you.
The drive took most of the rest of the afternoon, and Shelby spent it working herself up, bickering
with the radio, scanning the channels for the craziest nutjobs she could find. The air got colder, the
trees thinned out, and the elevation of the landscape rose steadily the whole time. Luce focused on
staying calm, imagining a hundred scenarios about meeting these parents. She tried to avoid think-
ing about what Daniel would say if he knew where she was going.
There it is. Shelby pointed when a massive snow-capped mountain came into view directly in
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