Some Hearts (9 page)

“Who all is in the group?” I wasn’t sure why I was asking. It wasn’t like I’d know any of them. I guess, really, I just wanted to know who the girl was.

“There are five of us in the group. Do you seriously want names or are you really asking who answered my phone?” His tone was light, teasing.

He knew me so well.

“Yes,” I admitted with a smile. “That’s what I’m asking.”

“Her name’s Amanda. I’m not sure why she answered. I was in the middle of writing something down and she just snatched it up. Sorry about that,” he explained.

“She knows you well enough that she’s comfortable answering your phone?”

He paused for a moment. “I don’t know. Not really. We’re at her house
because she had the best work space. None of us really wanted to hang out at the library on a Saturday. Maybe she didn’t want it to disturb her roommates. A couple of them are here studying too. Are you mad about this?”

Was I mad? “No. Not mad. Just a little surprised. That’s all. How often do you all get together?”

“Not often enough. We’ve had a really hard time coordinating our schedules. Look, I really hate to do this, because you have to know I’d much rather talk to you, but I really do need to get back to the group,” he said apologetically. “We’re just getting started and we’ve got a lot to get done tonight.”

“Okay.” I remembered his comment about not wanting to work with a group because so often there was a slacker. I was sure he didn’t want his group to think
he
was
that
guy. “I love you, guess we’ll talk later.”

“Love you too. Always. Bye.”

I had wanted to tell him about my visit with Adelaide. I had wanted to tell him that she said ‘hello’ and that she sent her love. He disconnected before I could tell him about his grandma or anything else, for that matter.

HOw

Over the next few weeks, Mom either tried to cut back on her drinking, or she hid it better. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, hoping she’d cut back. Tyler started flag football and she managed to make it to his games.

So did Caleb.

True to his word, he took Tyler to the park several times to play catch and to give him some pointers. I was grateful for that because even though I went to the games to be supportive, football went right over my head. I’d never been interested enough in it to try to learn the rules. That was something that Evan and Tyler had shared.

I hadn’t tagged along on any more of Tyler and Caleb’s outings. But I did still see Caleb frequently when he stopped by to pick Tyler up to go to the park. He’d pulled me aside one afternoon and I’d told him about the talk with Mom. I told him I thought she was at least trying. He’d been happy to hear that.

But I think we were both aware that unless she got some professional help, it was probably just a matter of time before she slid back into her old ways.

School continued to be a challenge. Instead of getting easier, it had become harder. It was as if the professors were intent on cramming as much information into our heads as possible. And we were still weeks away from midterms.

I had gone out with Riley and her new group of friends a few times. The five of us ate lunch together in the union almost daily. Riley wasn’t seeing anyone in particular but she’d been on several dates the last few weeks. She’d never asked me about Caleb, whether or not I’d found out if he was dating anyone. I was glad that she hadn’t pressed for more information. Caleb knew too much about my situation at home. I didn’t like the idea of him spending time with Riley. I didn’t want the two of them discussing my family life. Not that I thought they would do it in a gossipy way, but regardless, I didn’t want them discussing it at all.

I’d made it a habit to drop in on Adelaide. She was always so happy to have company. It was nice to feel like I was making someone happy. Spending time with her made me feel a little closer to Noah. Maybe it even helped me to miss him a little less.

When we had first agreed to our long distance relationship, we’d also agreed that we would make sure to see each other at least once a month. It made more sense for Noah to come back to Ashton than it did for me to go to Hudson. For one thing, if he came home, he’d be able to visit his friends and family. For another, if I were to go to Hudson, now that he’d decided to spend the year in the dorms, there was really nowhere for me to stay.

With his first planned visit finally approaching, I felt happier than I’d felt in weeks.

I was sitting at one of Tyler’s games, with Mom and Caleb, when my phone rang. A smile broke out on my face when Noah’s picture appeared on my screen.

“I have to take this,” I muttered to no one in particular. I hopped up from my lawn chair and hurried away from the sidelines. “Hello!” I answered happily.

“Hey, it’s me,” Noah said unnecessarily.

“Uh-huh,” I agreed as I wandered toward my car. I reached it and leaned against the side. From here, I could still keep an eye on Tyler but I had some privacy as well. “I’m so excited for this weekend,” I admitted without preamble. “I feel like I’ve been waiting forever to see you. This week is just dragging by. What time do you think you’ll get here? Should we plan dinner together on Friday night, or do you think you’ll be later than that?”

“Yeah, Em, about that. That’s why I’m calling.”

My stomach dropped at his words. “You’re not coming?”

“I know we agreed to the last weekend of every month. But it’s not going to work this month. Our group has to give our presentation on Monday. Everyone else has decided we need to get together this weekend to pull everything together.” He laughed an apologetic laugh. “You know how I was worried about being paired with slackers? ’Cause that’s how it seemed to always work out in high school? It’s
so
not the case here. This presentation is worth about a third of our grade. Everyone in my group…we’ve been working our asses off. I just don’t feel like I can get away.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and pulled in a deep breath. I was
not
going to get upset about this. It wouldn’t be fair to him. We both needed to take school seriously and I was not going to fault him for that.

“Okay,” I finally said on a sigh. “Do you know when I
will
see you? Do you have another weekend planned? Or are we just going to hope that the last weekend in October works out?” What if we planned on that weekend and something came up then as well?

“Actually,” he started, “I was hoping to see you sooner. I know it makes more sense for me to come to you. But I was wondering if we could make an exception this time?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“I think I might have just gotten lucky.
When I realized yesterday I wasn’t going to be able to head back to Ashton I called around to see if we could get a hotel room. I thought it would be worth splurging on. But there’s some big convention in town so everything is booked. Then Landon mentioned he’s going home for the weekend.” He paused, letting his words click into place. “I have my dorm room all to myself. I’m going to have to meet with my group on Saturday morning but I was hoping that maybe we could spend Friday night together? You’d be on your own for a while Saturday morning, but then we could spend the rest of the day together. Part of Sunday too. But then Sunday afternoon Amanda wanted everyone to get together for a final run through.”

The offer was tempting. So
very
tempting. However, if I left, would Mom take advantage of me being gone? Would she drink, thinking I wouldn’t find out? Would she pass out, leaving Tyler to fend for himself?

“Is that
a ‘no’?” Noah asked, cutting into my silence. “Because I thought this would work out great. This is the first weekend Landon plans on being gone. I don’t know when he’ll go home again. I know you saw the campus, last spring when we toured. But I thought it would be fun to really show you around. Now that I’m familiar with the place. Did I mention,” he said as his voice dropped to a low, playful level, “that I’ll have the room
all to myself
?”

His words forced a giggle out of me. Privacy, to us, was a precious commodity.
It was something we wouldn’t have if he’d come home.

“It sounds like you’ve given this some thought.”

“I have,” he admitted. “At first, I was really bummed. But as soon as I found out Landon was going to be out of town, I realized this could really work to our advantage. I miss you. I really like the thought of having you all to myself this weekend. You know if I came home, I’d have to spend time with my parents. Ben and Drew would probably track me down.”

He was right. If he came home, I would have to share him.

“Okay. I think…I think that should work,” I hesitantly agreed.

I was nervous about leaving Tyler. But if I couldn’t tear myself away for a weekend, how would I ever te
ar myself away next school year? Maybe this would be a good trial run.

“You don’t sound very excited about it.”

I winced because it sounded like his feelings were hurt.

“Of course I’m excited! I am,” I insisted. “It’s just that Mom’s been having a really hard time lately. I feel kind of funny about leaving.”

“Things are that bad?” His tone had instantly switched to one of concern.

I backtracked. “No, it’s nothing to worry about. I think that the next month is really going to be tough on her. You know, it’s been almost a year. Maybe when the date has passed…”

“Right. I get it. If you don’t want to come, I’ll understand. I’ll be disappointed but only because I can’t wait to see you. But I’d definitely understand.”

“I’m coming,” I assured him. “I miss you too much to stay away.”

“Awesome!”

I laughed at his enthusiasm. “We can finalize plans later. But I suppose I better get back to Tyler’s game. He’ll notice if I’m away for too long.”

We said our goodbyes and disconnected. I made my way back to where I’d been sitting with Mom and Caleb. Mom’s chair was between us.

Caleb peeked around her. “Everything okay?”

I realized I was frowning. I should not be frowning. I should be excited. I was going to see Noah. That should bring nothing but a smile to my face. Happy thoughts into my head. A warm and fuzzy feeling into my heart.

Not a queasy feeling into the pit of my stomach.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Noah can’t make it home this weekend. He can’t get away. He asked me to drive to Hudson instead.”

“Are you going?” Caleb asked.

I glanced at Mom. She was gazing out at the field. There was no way she wasn’t aware of the conversation but she was choosing to ignore it.

“Probably,” I told Caleb.
“It would be nice to get a better feel for the town. I’d like to see the campus again. Noah wants to show me around.”

“Why wouldn’t you go?” he asked.

I chanced another glance at Mom. Understanding flickered across Caleb’s features. “I’m not sure how Tyler would feel about me being gone the whole weekend. I’d have to leave right after class on Friday. It’s a five hour drive so I probably wouldn’t get home until pretty late Sunday night.”

I waited for Mom to tell me to go ahead and go. That everything would be fine. That it was silly to think that I needed to stick around for Tyler. She continued to watch the game and didn’t say anything.

“I think you should go,” Caleb said firmly. “You deserve a weekend away. Don’t you think so, Jolene?”

Mom startled at being called out. “Wha
t? Oh. Of course. You should go,” she said as she turned to me. Things had been strained with us the past few weeks and she forced a smile. “You’re an adult. You don’t need my permission.”

“Right,” I said as I settled back into my chair.

I redirected my attention to the game and tried to focus. Before long, I was lost in watching Tyler again. This was the first year the sport was officially offered. I could see why. It was chaos on the field. Organized, amusing chaos. It was obvious that the kids were having fun, though. Tyler constantly glanced at us, making sure we were watching.

When the game was finally over, he came trotting up to us. “Did you see
me throw the ball to Todd? He even caught it! Did you see how far away he was?!”

“Sure did!” Caleb said as he rumpled up
Ty’s hair. “All that practice is paying off. That was an
awesome
throw! Great game!”

“Yeah, Ty, that was fun,” I said.
“I saw you had a really nice catch too.”

He beamed up at me. My heart
swelled. I
loved
this kid.

“We should probably head for home,” Mom interjected. After a few goodbyes, she and Tyler headed to the parking lot.

I folded up the chairs I’d brought from home. Caleb stacked all three of them into his arms before I had a chance.

“If you’re worried about leaving him this weekend,” he started quietly as we walked to my car, “I can check in on them.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “You wouldn’t mind?”

He shook his head. “Not at all. Maybe I can plan something for Ty and me to do on Saturday. I’m kind of running out of ideas.”

I laughed at that. “I think he’d be happy spending the whole day at the park playing catch.”

“True,” Caleb agreed with a smile. “He’s an easy kid to have around. I could probably just bring him back to the house and let him veg on the couch all day with some video games. I don’t think he’d complain.”

“No, he’d love it,” I corrected. I used my key fob to pop open my trunk. Caleb slid the chairs inside.

“Yeah, but I’d rather have him out, doing something as long as the weather is nice. Let me think on it. But either way, don’t worry about this weekend. Aright?”

I nodded. “Alright.”

“Good girl,” he said with a grin. He
clapped his hand on my shoulder and then he walked away.

***

“I have a favor to ask,” Caleb said.

It was Thursday night. I was in my room, packing for the weekend. I placed a pair of jeans into my suitcase,
and then sat down on the edge of my bed so I could give Caleb my full attention.

He needed a favor? From me?

“Anything.” After everything he had done for us, how could I reply any other way?

He chuckled at me.

“I know this is really short notice. But could I borrow Ty for the weekend? My brother, Darren, and sister-in-law, Theresa, are taking their kids camping. It’s kind of a last minute thing. But we were talking and thought it might be nice to try to get out before it’s too damn cold to go.

“
Theresa will be there so you don’t have to worry about things getting out of control or anything. She’ll make sure the kids are in bed on time. He’ll be properly fed and stuff. My nephews are a few years younger than Ty but I think he’d still have a good time. We’ll be roughing it in tents, having a campfire. We’ll be close to a lake so we can get some fishing in.” He paused for a second before saying, “But if that’s too much, I understand.”