Rebel's Tag by K. L. Denman Read Free Book Online Page B

ready. I think about it every day. Part of me is itching to see Grandpa Max. But the other part still resents how he ditched me.
    I wasn’t important enough for him to bother sticking around.
    He’s a stranger. Is he a stranger?
    Terrible feelings come out of the past. Feelings about dark holes and awful losses. There are murky memories of my mom crying at night. Hating the cards we made at school on Father’s Day. Quitting soccer because there was no dad, no
man
, to slap my back and say, “Good game!”
    I feel ripped off. I don’t want to take a chance on him.
    And then I re-read his letters. There’s that question in the very first one. Am I willing to forgive him? I think about how Indi forgave me. Norman and Mary too. They said there wasn’t enough time to hold a grudge. I think about Mom saying she’d rather do better. I think about how losing people he loved made Grandpa Max want to hide. And I get it. He’s human. He didn’t know where he fit anymore. Maybe, after all this time, he fits with me again?
    How can I
not
forgive him? And when I get to that thought, it just happens. And I find out that forgiveness feels like being on a roof. Like freedom.
    Space and Time is such a narrow slot among all the shops on Robson Street that we walk past it twice before we find the door. The store is barely wider than the doorway, but once we’re inside, it stops being small. The room stretches back, long and narrow. And it soars up, way up, into blackness. There must be a ceiling somewhere, but all I can see is space. Models of every planet in the solar system hang above our heads. Indi and I stand still and crane our necks.
    â€œThere’s Uranus,” I say.
    A chuckle emerges from the clutter on our left. “Careful,” a voice chides us. “The correct way to say it is YOOR-ah-nus.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou heard me. So, you like the cosmic trickster?”
    â€œThe what?” I say.
    â€œAstrologers say Uranus causes all sorts of trouble when it orbits through certain transits.”
    â€œUm. Yeah.” I look for the owner of the voice and find a grinning young guy wearinga weird pair of glasses. He almost blends in with all the clocks and gizmos. “Are you Eli Jones?” I ask.
    â€œThat’s me. And you are?”
    â€œSam Connor. My grandfather...”
    Eli cuts me off. “You’re Max’s grandson.” He isn’t smiling anymore.
    â€œYeah,” I say. “I’ve got his pocket watch. He said you could fix it.”
    â€œWell, yes. I can.” Eli hesitates. “I guess I can understand why you’d want that now.”
    I don’t know why, but I suddenly feel cold. “What do you mean?”
    â€œI mean, considering. You know.”
    The chill increases. “No, I don’t know. What are you talking about?”
    Eli looks away. He pulls the glasses off. He steps out from behind the counter and raises his arm, like he’s going to hug me. I shrink back, and he lets the arm drop. “Look,” he says, “I was really hoping you’d find out some other way. Like maybe someone would tell your mom. I don’t know why Max asked me to do it. I’m not really good with words. But Max asked me to tellyou. If it happened to play out like this. I couldn’t say no.”
    And I know what he’s going to say.

chapter thirteen
    My voice seems to come from somewhere outside of me, but I have to speak. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
    Eli nods.
    Indi shuffles up close and puts her arm around me.
    â€œWhen?” I croak.
    â€œDay before yesterday.” Eli clears his throat. “He had cancer. He just couldn’t hold out any longer.”
    I want to hit something. Hit it really, really hard. My hand forms a fist and I pull away from Indi.
    â€œWhoa, there. Easy!” Eli steps toward me again. “I’m sorry, Sam. I wish things had gone