I couldn’t help but grin, watching Cora’s face light up with the biggest smile as we walked through the theme park. She practically radiated joy, her excitement contagious, pulling the rest of us along like we were caught in her gravitational field. I couldn’t count how many times I had trudged through an entire theme park with her over the years, trying to survive the endless roller coasters and spinning rides she begged to go on with those big, pleading puppy dog eyes.
For some reason, I had always been the one she begged the hardest. Maybe it was because I caved the fastest—every single time. It didn’t matter if she was ten and bouncing on her toes, sixteen and stubborn with that knowing smirk, or twenty-four and grinning like she could still get whatever she wanted out of me. I always
