Chapter One

Clara's POV

The second the graduation ceremony ended, my parents took us all to the nicest restaurant in town.

They said they wanted to properly celebrate having "two graduates" in the family.

Pierce, my boyfriend of four years, showed up last with a huge bouquet of champagne roses in his arms.

I'd just gotten up from my chair when he walked right past me and handed the whole bouquet to my friend Brooke. "Happy graduation. No crying, okay?"

My mom was all smiles, going on about how thoughtful Pierce always was.

Then he caught my eye and hesitated. He tugged one rose free from the bunch and held it out to me. "You're not really into this kind of thing anyway, right?"

So that was my graduation gift from my boyfriend. One stem he'd pulled out of another girl's bouquet without a second thought.

Once we sat down, the conversation quickly turned to jobs.

Brooke looked miserable as she told us she hadn't heard back from a single place she'd applied to.

Pierce put down his fork and knife right away. "Come work at my family's hotel. Pick any job you want. I've got you."

My brother leaned in too. "My company's hiring right now. I can refer you. It's literally one phone call."

My dad gave her a sympathetic look. "Don't stress. You're so talented, good companies are going to be fighting over you."

The three of them crowded around her with ideas, each one trying harder than the last.

I'd just graduated too, but when it came to me, my dad barely gave it a thought. "Clara can just grab whatever job she can get. It's not like she can afford to be picky."

My mom nodded. "If anybody's willing to take you, just be grateful."

I stuck the rose in the water glass in front of me. The stem was too long and the glass was too shallow, so it slumped against the rim. No matter how I set it, it wouldn't stay up.

Just like me in this family. However hard I tried, I could never find my footing. Whether I was there or not, it made no difference to anyone.

Fine. Then I'd leave.

I'd go somewhere as far away from them as I could get, and this time I wasn't coming back.

---

"Brooke, your phone just lit up. Is that one of the companies getting back to you?"

My mom noticed first, sounding hopeful.

Brooke opened the email. Her smile faded bit by bit until she set her phone face down on the table, her eyes already going red. "Another rejection... Am I really that bad? Nobody wants me."

My mom got up right away, came around the table and pulled her into a hug, patting her back. "Don't say that. If you're bad, what does that make Clara? That company just doesn't know what they're missing, sweetheart. We'll take our time and find the right place. No rush."

I looked down and cut into my eggs. They'd gone cold ages ago.

My dad set down his glass and suddenly slapped his knee. "Wait, how did I forget about Gary? My college roommate. He's a program director at an aerospace parts company now. That's right in your field."

Brooke looked up with teary eyes. "Really, Mr. Hollis?"

"I'll call him right now."

He took his phone over to the window. Half the restaurant could hear him bragging about how smart and hardworking Brooke was, saying all the kid needed was a chance.

When he hung up, he came back to the table and winked at her. "Done. You've got an interview next week, and Gary says he'll mentor you himself. Kids from top schools would kill to get on his team."

Brooke laughed through her tears and threw her arms around him. Pierce clapped for her, and my brother let out a whistle.

I'd watched this exact scene play out a hundred times, and it still made my chest feel tight.

It was like Brooke had never really fallen down in her life. The second she frowned, someone was already rushing to clear the way for her.

Sophomore year, she failed calculus. My mom didn't even think twice. She hired her a private tutor and paid for a whole semester of sessions up front.

That same semester, I got an A-minus in mechanics of materials. I posted a screenshot of my grade in the family group chat, and all I got back was one text from my mom. "Why not an A?"

That winter of my junior year, a broken beaker sliced my palm open in the lab.

I wrapped the cut in a wad of paper towels and called Pierce. It was the first time I'd ever asked him to come to the hospital with me.

The line went quiet for a few seconds. "Brooke's got a group presentation tomorrow morning and she's too nervous to sleep. I need to help her go over her notes. You can always handle stuff on your own, right?"

In the end, it was a classmate from my lab group, the one at the next bench, who called a cab and got me to the ER. They told me that next time, I shouldn't try to tough it out alone.

When I was little, I used to sneak through the family photo albums, looking for any sign that the hospital had sent me home with the wrong parents.

It took me years to figure it out. It was never about blood. I was just too low-maintenance. I didn't cry and I didn't make a fuss, so after a while, everyone assumed I didn't need anyone to look out for me.

When dessert came, my mom finally remembered to ask me. "What about you? How's the job search going?"

Before I could say a word, my dad waved his hand. "What kind of good job is she going to get? She'll be lucky if anybody takes her."

My brother scoffed. "Better hurry up. You're not gonna graduate and then just sit around here mooching off us."

Pierce thought about it. "Worst case, our hotel needs someone at the front desk. I could put in a word with the manager."

Brooke got a program director who'd mentor her personally. I got the front desk at a hotel.

I didn't say anything. Under the table, I opened my email.

Cascade National Laboratory.

The salary beat every one of the "real jobs" they kept talking about. The only catch was that it was in the Pacific Northwest, a full three thousand miles from this table.

I'd been sitting on that email for seven days, carrying it around like a question I hadn't asked anyone yet.

If anyone had just asked where I wanted to go, or if Pierce had remembered that we'd agreed to stay in the same city after graduation, maybe I would've told them. Maybe I would've stayed.

But now there were less than six hours left before the deadline, and everyone at the table was still caught up in figuring out what Brooke should wear to her interview.

I hit accept.

A message popped up on the screen right away: Welcome to Cascade National Laboratory, Clara Hollis!

The first person all day to say my name like it actually mattered was three thousand miles away.