“You mean always walking around in the shadow of his brilliance?”

“I think you’re pretty brilliant yourself,” Joy said quietly. “I just meant—”

“I know what you meant. And the fact of the matter is, if I didn’t adore Everett so much, if he weren’t genuinely one of the most awesome people I’d ever met, I would have had an inferiority complex the size of Mount Everest. Everett has never been secretive about his own vulnerabilities, though. It helps to know he bleeds just like we all do.”

“Maybe I’m a poor observer of character, but I couldn’t begin to guess what Everett’s vulnerabilities are. It’s like you said out...