Flashback ( PDFDrive )

great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-greatgreat-grandmother.
Councillors weren’t allowed to have husbands or wives or children
in case it biased their decisions.
Fallon wrung his hands as he gazed around the room. “Forgive my
tardiness. I prefer the solace of home. It’s the only place where my
mind doesn’t struggle to separate what is from what used to be. I don’t
know how you bear it, Bronte.”
“It helps to stay immersed,” Bronte told him. “Keep myself fully in
the present.”
“I suppose.” Fallon’s eyes glazed over as he stared at some distant
point. “But the world has grown . . . exhausting.”
Silence followed, until Emery said—with the slightest hint of
irritation—“I assume you have a reason for interrupting our
proceedings.”
Fallon blinked hard, dropping his hands back to his sides. “I do.
Or . . . I did. I think I lost track of it. What did I say again?”
“This guy’s my new favorite,” Ro whispered as she grabbed Keefe’s
shoulders and gave him a rough shake. “Get ready to show off those
skinny legs at school.”
“They’re not skinny,” Keefe muttered before he called to Fallon,
“You said, ‘A lot can happen in six months.’ ”
“Ah. Yes. That does sound familiar. And a lot can happen.” Fallon
stared at his fingers, twisting them around each other. “But there was
something else I was going to add . . . and I seem to have lost my hold
on it.”
Ro snickered through another long stretch of silence, and Sophie
tried not to smile at the way Keefe squirmed.