4
Palmer Ferguson
(Fourteen and a half years old)
Sedona and Jamison’s Oldest Child
I walk into Lard Have Mercy to find my cousin Linus already in the booth in the back. He sent me a text to meet him here, so I think something happened at school today.
When I slide into the booth across from him, he peeks up from his fries. Oh, his eyes look red-rimmed and sad. s**t, I don’t know that I’m the person to make him feel better. Didn’t Calista and Dion return today? Why didn’t he go to them?
But I know the answer. There are so many Bailey cousins—twenty-six in all—we tend to cluster with the ones we’re closest in age to. Linus and I grew up together. Although the Bailey Triplets are only a year older, right now they’re sophomores and we’re freshmen. Somehow, that difference feels greater
