The Healing (The Things We Can't Change Book 3) (33 page)

“Ready?” he asks, sticking his wallet into his jeans pocket and picking up his keys once again.

“Yeah,” I say, and follow him back out to the car.

We drive back to my house in barely ten minutes, and in complete silence. It’s so opposite from what I’m used to experiencing with Zeke that I can’t help but feel uncomfortable, which is weird. Do we not have anything to talk about unless we’re working on each other’s problems? The thought depresses me, and all too soon we’re pulling into my driveway.

Zeke graciously walks me up to the front door and lounges against the brick siding of the house as I fumble with my key ring, the silence finally getting to me.

“Where’s your party?” I ask, for want of anything else to say. I’m still a bit annoyed with him, but I decide to let it go, especially when I think of all he’s done for me. He’s staring at me and it’s making me nervous as I search for the right key to the house.

“Down on campus,” he replies, and I finally find the right key and stick it into the lock. “With Dominic and Koby. Dom has been in Akron all summer, and he’s finally back.”

“Cool,” I say, wondering what it would be like to be carefree, able to just fly downtown to the OSU campus on a whim. I used to be able to do that. Went to a few parties there with Tony and his friends, but they were at the nice frats, full of students whose parents paid their every expense, and it was more like a country club mixer than a real party. Sure, it got a little wild, but it wasn’t… thrilling or exciting. People were snobs, and I have a feeling the kind of parties that Zeke goes to on campus are much different, messier, and more real. I like real, I’m discovering. It’s what’s been missing from my life for some time now.

I push at the key in the lock as Zeke chatters a bit more, but it won’t turn. I frown at it and put some muscle into it, then shake it back and forth. The lock has never stuck before, and I pull the key out and then re-insert it and try again. It still doesn’t turn.

“What’s the matter?” Zeke asks, finally noticing my struggle.

“I think the lock is stuck or something,” I say, and step away. “It’s never done it before, but maybe you can get it.”

Zeke steps up with a joking comment about the strength of girls, or rather, the lack thereof. I punch him in the arm, though gently, and he tries the lock himself.

“Nope,” he says. “Maybe something is up with the door. Is there another way to get in?”

“Yeah, I have my garage door code, the inside door isn’t locked.”

He follows me to the garage door and I punch my code into the keypad there and we wait as the door grinds upward. I start for the door to the house while Zeke ambles over to my dad’s Challenger, peeking into the windows. I plug in my key, but it still doesn’t turn.

“It’s still not working,” I call to Zeke, though it’s more like a groan.

He comes over and gives the key a few shakes, and it still doesn’t turn. “Is there another door?”

“Just the sliding ones, and you can’t unlock them from the outside,” I say, crossing my arms and staring at the door with a frown. Then, like a lightning bolt, the idea hits me and I look up at Zeke. “You don’t think… What if she… changed the locks?”

Zeke stares at me for a full minute, and then gives an uneasy laugh and shakes his head. “That’s pretty far, even as crazy as she is. Besides, didn’t you tell me once that this is
your
house?”

“Technically, yes,” I admit. “But she was home first, and I mean, the key isn’t working.” I gesture toward the door, and then sigh. “Let me call her. Maybe she’s drunk enough to let me in by now, if that’s the case.”

I step back and pull my phone out of my purse, dialing first Clarissa’s cell phone, which she doesn’t pick up, and then the house phone. On the fourth ring, she finally picks up.

“Hello?”

I can tell just from the one word that she’s already several glasses, if not a whole bottle, into her evening drinking. “Clarissa, its Evie. My key isn’t working, I need you to let me inside.”

There’s a sharp intake of breath on the line, and then she snaps, “You can rot outside, you little bitch.” And the line goes dead.

I pull the phone away from my ear and stare at it, and then sigh, tossing it back into my purse. “Well, I’d say that means she definitely
did
change the locks on me. I thought that only happened in the movies. To cheating husbands.”

“Apparently troublesome stepdaughters are now on that list as well. Where are your glass slippers, Cinderella?” Zeke teases, and I can’t help but laugh.

Oddly enough, with Zeke here, the whole thing doesn’t really bother me that much. I pull my key ring from the lock and toss that into my purse now as well, because it’s pretty much useless to me.

“Will you be able to get back in?” Zeke asks, his voice concerned. “Can you just have someone come unlock it, or change them back?”

I sigh. “Uncle Greg can probably get it taken care of, but it will have to be tomorrow. He’s in Cincinnati right now, visiting my dad’s clinic there. He was the executor of the will and probably has more power than I do. I don’t think I should handle this on my own. I could go stay at his house, I know he wouldn’t mind, but the keys to his place are on my other key ring, inside the house.” I gesture helplessly toward the door, frowning. Normally, I’d go to a friend’s house. Jenny’s, or even Grace or Chantal. Blech. But… I don’t have any friends.

“I guess I could call him, and see if he has a key hidden or there’s someone who can let me in,” I say half-heartedly.

Zeke shakes his head. “Nah, it’s okay. You can hang with me. We could go to a real party, if you want.”

I look at him, shocked. “You’d want to take me with you?”

He laughs at my surprise. “What, you think I’m embarrassed to be seen with you? You’re not exactly a hag, you know, Evie. Besides, you’re dressed to go out. But,” his face turns serious as he looks me in the eye, “it’ll be crowded and messy and no one there is going to know or care about your problems. I’ll be with you the whole time, I swear, and Koby and Dominic too, but I’m just saying. People will brush against you and shit. Can you handle it?”

I consider for a moment, and I realize with surprise that I want to go with Zeke more than I have ever wanted to do anything else before. He may not realize it, but he’s offering me a glimpse into his world, his side of things. For so long, we’ve always been in my sphere; the club, my house, even the dance studio reflects more of my life than his. I’ve only caught glimpses of Zeke’s world; Koby’s house, the kitchens, and today at his own house. And I want more.

I take a breath for courage. “Then maybe it’s a good idea. Time to face some more fears. Don’t you think?”

The smile Zeke gives me fills me with warmth and butterflies.
Steady, Evie.

“Then let’s get out of here,” he says, reaching into his pocket for his keys and turning toward the driveway.

“Wait a second,” I say on impulse, and he half-turns. I gesture toward the Challenger, because I know he likes it. He always goes to look at it when the garage door is open. “Don’t you want to arrive in style?” I ask, dangling my own keys out in front of him.

After Zeke calls a confused Koby and Dominic to say he’ll be picking them up, we roll the windows down and drive the hell out of my dad’s car. For a brief second, I close my eyes and let memories flow over me; my dad letting me drive this car for the first time, giggling together as I took my driver’s test in it, much to the chagrin of the person who administered the test. We’d laughed the whole way home at his wide-eyed face. All good, happy memories that still sting, but less and less as time goes on.

So much has happened between my dad’s death and now that I realize I’ve forgotten to be sad about it, and sometimes I forget to miss him so much that it aches. It makes me sad, but I also know it means I’m coming to terms with it. So I just push the pedal to the floor and drive the way my dad would have; fast.

As pre-agreed, we stop just off Grandview Avenue and Fifth at Giant Eagle and switch seats, and Zeke drives the rest of the way to the club with a little-boy grin on his face that makes me smile. We see Koby and Dominic standing outside under a parking lot lamp before they see us, and even then, they eye the car for an admiring moment before getting back to their conversation.

Zeke cruises in right next to them and they look at the car for a startled moment before Zeke finally lowers the window and gives them the nod. “Hey.”

In the passenger seat, I’m giggling uncontrollably.

“Get the fuck out!” Dominic exclaims. “Is this how the Parkers finally decided to pay you for all the slave work you’ve been doing? About time those bastards rewarded you.”

“Um,” Zeke says, and clears his throat significantly as he jerks a thumb toward me in the passenger seat.

Dominic lowers his head to look more fully into the window and it washes clean of expression as I give a small finger wave. “Right,” he says. “Sorry.”

“Dom, I don’t know if you’ve officially met, but this is Evie Parker. Evie, this is Dom.”

He reaches in with a hand and I shake it. His hand is surprisingly soft and warm, negating the intimidating feeling of the black tear tattooed on his cheek and his ultra-baggy jeans and the designs shaved into his black hair. I wonder if, like Zeke, Dominic’s toughness is only on the outside, a shield to keep people from getting too close with minimal effort. Strange, how looks can be so utterly deceiving.

“Nice to meet you,” I say politely.

“Same,” he returns, and sounds as though he actually means it. He and Koby crowd the window, resting their arms on the door of the car as they look inside.

“So, really, what’s going on?” Koby asks. “Are you not coming to the party tonight now?”

“No, I’m coming. Evie is too. She just offered to let us chauffer ourselves to the party.” Zeke spreads his arms out in an all-encompassing gesture that indicates the car he’s sitting in. Then he looks to his friends. “Are you riding with us or what?”

There’s a scramble as they fight to get to the door handle, and Zeke laughs as he gets out and pulls the seat back so they can climb inside. He re-enters the car and we pull away from the club, and my thought as we do so is that I really have no interest in returning to the place.

The boys are loud, loud and a little crude as they talk and shout and insult one another. I sit back in my seat, thinking I’ll be horrified or feel terribly out of place, but the truth is that I don’t. I’m content with being in the background for the moment, because it gives me a chance to catch my bearings and be anonymous, just for a little while. So often things seem to revolve around me, around my problems and issues and it’s nice to feel carefree for once, to be with people who don’t really know about them and probably don’t care.

At one point, as we enter campus, Zeke looks over at me, his eyes concerned and I can read the question in them instantly.
Are you okay?
I don’t even hesitate as I nod, because I am. I’m fine, and strangely enough, I’m excited about what lies ahead tonight.

Evangeline

73

We park on a street with a row of houses, some of which have been converted into apartments and some of which are untouched, except for the ravaging from their tenents, all college students attending the most well-known school in the state. We un-pile from the car and walk up a block, and I can hear where the party is taking place before I can see it. Loud techno-pop music is spilling out, playing a new Ellie Goulding song. Then I see the house, big and imposing, lights on all around, people standing on the porch smoking and drinking, dancing figures through the windows.

For just a flash of a moment, I feel consumed with fear. Dark house, dark figures. Dark bedrooms where people can do dark deeds, with no one the wiser. For an even longer moment, I feel disconnected, as though I’m about to float away. Fear rises up inside me, rearing its ugly head. And then it all disappears instantly when Zeke’s strong arm comes to rest heavily and reassuringly across my shoulders, and he leans down to whisper in my ear.

“I don’t know many of these people, they’re friends with Dominic more than me, but for all intents and purposes of making sure you’re not bothered much tonight, let’s just nod and smile when people ask if you’re my girlfriend tonight, okay? And just try not to wander off or anything, understand?”

I nod quickly, liking this plan, but disliking the butterflies and disappointment I feel in my stomach as I remember it’s a lie, and that I’m not Zeke’s girlfriend and the chances of ever becoming his girlfriend are slim to none. I don’t like the longing I feel at the idea, and in true Zeke style, I shove my feelings away and try to avoid facing them.

He keeps his arm around my shoulders as we climb the rickety wooden steps to the house, which are also trembling in time with the bass of the music. Dominic breaks off to go and say hi to his friends, who are on one corner of the porch smoking, and from the smell, it’s not cigarettes. Koby follows Zeke and me inside and sticks with us until we reach the kitchen where the drinks are, but grabs a beer and is stolen away by some friends who graduated last year.

“What’s it to be?” Zeke asks, finally removing his arm from around my shoulders.