Free The Way Back from Broken by Amber J. Keyser Page A

lost?” Her fingers slid closer. Warmth rushed through him, an unfamiliar lightness. She knew him and understood him and still wanted to graze his fingertips with her own.
    And he was about to fly nearly three thousand miles away from her.
    Still, Rakmen grinned. If Molly Campbell didn’t want him lost, he was definitely NOT getting lost.
    Jacey bounded, rabbit-like, toward them, jittering to a stop inches from his knees. “What’s that? Can I see it? What’s it do?” She squeezed in between them and wheedled it out of his hands, squealing.
    Save me , he mouthed over the girl’s rumpled head, but Molly only smiled and shrugged. Jacey’s parents joined them, her dad awkwardly shaking Rakmen’s hand and Mrs. Tatlas looking like the effort of standing was almost too much. Rakmen could see red rimming her eyes. The heaviness flooded back in, dousing the spark that had passed between his fingers and Molly’s. He was condemned.
    â€œI’ve got something for you too, kiddo,” Molly said, taking the GPS out of Jacey’s hands and handing it back to Rakmen. She reached into her purse and gave Jacey a small box wrapped in yellow tissue paper. “Here you go.”
    Jacey tore off the wrapping. “Wow, wow, wow!” she shrieked, flinging her body into Molly’s arms. “You’re the best!” She rushed to her parents to show off the pink digital camera. “Can you believe this?”
    â€œOh, Molly,” Mrs. Tatlas said. “We really can’t . . .”
    â€œI wanted to,” said Molly, standing to hug Mrs. Tatlas. She squeezed Jacey’s arm again. “Rakmen will teach you how to use it.”
    Behind them, the screen door opened, and Rakmen’s and Molly’s parents came out for the big goodbye. Rakmen wished everyone wasn’t making such a big show of it.
    â€œIt’s time to go,” said Mr. Tatlas. “Can I give you a hand with that, Rakmen?”
    Jacey wrapped her arms around his duffel. “I got it!” When she’d hefted it a foot off the ground, her whole body began to wobble.
    â€œYou’re gonna kill yourself,” Rakmen said, scooping it out of her arms before she toppled.
    The three mothers froze, and Rakmen felt the chill that followed the word he couldn’t call back. For several moments, there was too much silence and too much space. When the women forced themselves back into motion, each one looked at her empty hands as if she could weigh absence. Together, they walked to the car like mourners. Only Jacey jigged and bopped like she was going to a party.
    Rakmen breathed in the summer evening—the bite of diesel in the air, garden dirt, and burgers cooking next door. This was what he knew, but it no longer felt like home. He was a runaway truck with burned out brakes. The ache that filled Rakmen pulsed in his bones, white-cold and penetratingly deep. With leaden arms, he hoisted his duffel into the trunk. Dad swept him into a bear hug, slapping his back so hard it sent a jolt of pain through his healing rib. Molly was next in line. She whispered, “Come back safe,” and her lips grazed his ear. He thought of the moth against the bars and wanted to crush her to his chest.
    Jacey pulled him into the backseat, and the smile on her face was so wide you could drive a semi through it. His mom leaned in to kiss him one more time. “I’ll miss you, mi corazón .”
    Another fragile thing in a cage of bone. Mi corazón , my heart.
    That was the place he didn’t want to go.
    Dora’s heart-shaped face, every detail of her tiny lips and silky eyelashes. The way he’d noticed everything but her overworked heart grinding to a halt.
    The car’s engine whined to life.
    He choked out his last good-byes.
    And before he knew it, Rakmen was skimming through his city as if he didn’t belong there. Beside him, Jacey snapped pictures with her new