Together We Heal (33 page)

“I never understood that phrase, but anyway, it was good. You were right about her.” Her eyes narrowed a little and she turned away and started messing with her bag. What was that about?

“Good. I’m glad you liked her.”

“Yeah, she was really soothing. And the way she explained things, made them seem possible, you know?” She still wouldn’t turn and face me.

“And she’s pretty sexy too, huh?” she said in a hard voice. Oh. Shit. She’d misinterpreted what I’d said.

“I suppose most guys would think she was. But I’m not most guys and she’s not you. The only woman on this planet that I want to have sex with is you.” She looked up and I could tell she didn’t believe me. Her self-confidence and trust in me were still a work in progress. Hell, we were both a work in progress.

“You, Trish. Only you, wild girl.” I put my hand under her chin and lifted her face so our eyes would meet.

“I like hearing you say that. It’s hard to believe it still. But I’m trying.” I smiled and brought my forehead to hers.

“I know you are. We’re both trying and that’s all we can ask for.”

AT LAST WE
reached Friday and the end of exams. We all decided to have a party to celebrate. Trish and I wanted to have it at our new apartment, but we couldn’t move in just yet because the other tenants hadn’t vacated. They were due to move out on the weekend and then on Monday we could start bringing our stuff in. We still didn’t have a bed or any large furniture, but Simon was working on it. He’d already started on a TV stand and a pair of nightstands for us. Trish and I tried to pay him, but he said it was our housewarming present and he had gotten the pieces from Goodwill and was going to spruce them up for us.

“If we’re not careful, he’s just going to furnish our whole place,” Trish said.

“I would, if you let me,” he said. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

Stryker got out the kiddie pool that I’d used for the beach date with Trish and we filled it up with water and stuck our feet in and pretended we were on a beach in the apartment parking lot.

“I feel like my brain has actually been squished,” Lottie said. Zan reached up and started massaging her head.

“Oh, that feels good. Don’t stop.” Will made a noise and then covered his ears.

“Oh please,” Lottie said, splashing water at him. That unleashed a water fight and we all ended up getting soaked.

Water balloons appeared from out of nowhere and then it was war. Boys against girls style. There wasn’t a clear winner, but we were all laughing and having a good time anyway.

“God, wearing a bathing suit this summer is going to suck,” Katie said, leaning back in her creaky lawn chair.

“You can wear whatever you want, sweetheart and, if anyone has anything to say about it, I’ll have some words with them,” Stryker said. Katie rolled her eyes.

“Thank you, Mr. Caveman. I don’t need you to protect me from haters. I just mean that I’m not going to feel as sexy. I’m going to feel more like a whale.” She pouted and looked down. “Oh well. This is all for you, Blob.”

I glanced at Trish and she was so fucking beautiful that I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It was like looking directly at the sun. You wanted to, but you couldn’t because it was too much.

“You’re staring,” she said.

“You’re beautiful.” I put my arm around her shoulder and brought her close for a kiss.

“You’re trying to get some,” she whispered.

“You’re right.”

We laughed and then she moved from her chair to mine. Of course my phone chose that moment to ring. I retrieved my phone from where I’d folded it in my shirt and put it under my chair before the water fight, so it would stay dry.

My mom. Of course.

“She’s probably wondering when you’re coming home,” Trish said, looking at the screen. “You seriously need to talk to her.”

She was right and after talking with Beth, I felt like I had a handle on doing this, so I stood up and answered, walking away from the group to stand near my car.

“Hey, Mom.”

HIS BACK WAS
straight as a rod and I wanted to go over and listen, but that would have been rude. Still, I kept my eyes on him as he talked to his mom. At first I could see him nodding and not saying a lot but then he spoke. I wished I could read lips. That skill would definitely come in handy right at this moment.

He ended the call and stood by his car for a minute. I couldn’t take it anymore and got up to see what had gone down. Everyone else was talking about other things, so they didn’t even notice.

“Hey,” I said, tapping his shoulder. He turned around, and he looked just as sad as he had when we’d walked into his parents’ house. I hated seeing that look. Hated. It. So. Much.

“How did it go?” I asked. He let out a shaky breath and then gave me a hesitant smile.

“Not great but not terrible, if that makes sense. I told her that I wasn’t coming home for the summer, that I was living here. She asked all kinds of questions and I decided not to drop the bomb on her that I’m living with you quite yet. You’re not mad, are you?” I put my arms around him.

“No, I’m sure the fact that you’re not coming back was enough of a shock.”

“Yeah, pretty much.” He brushed my hair back. “She was really upset and I don’t know if she’s going to forgive me, but… I know I need to do this and hopefully down the road she and Dad will understand why. And if they don’t, that’s going to be shitty, but I have you and everyone and I know that I’m not alone. I may not have blood family, but I have the family that I got to pick, which is pretty cool.” He gave me a watered-down smile, and it was good enough.

“Hey, why don’t you go upstairs and grab some more sodas,” I suggested. His eyes were a little red and I could tell he probably needed a moment alone.

“Good idea.” He placed a kiss in the middle of my forehead and then went back into the building.

“Everything okay?” Audrey asked when I sat back down. She had her sunglasses on and her hair hung across the back of her chair like silk. I would never admit to her that I had hair envy.

“Yeah, he’s just having some issues with his parents. They’re not too happy about him staying here for the summer.” She pushed her sunglasses up on her forehead.

“Oh my God, do I ever understand that. My parents have never approved of anything I did. But you have to decide to do what’s best for you, even if they don’t like it.”

“Exactly,” I said, shading my eyes and wishing I’d brought some sunglasses.

“If he wants to talk about it, let me know,” she said. Audrey was just the sweetest.

“I will, thanks.”

“Anytime.”

MAX WAS GONE
for a while so I went up to check on him. He wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room so I assumed he was in the bathroom. I knocked on the door.

“Max? You okay?” There was an audible sniff.

“Yeah, fine.” His voice was uneven and I could tell he’d been crying.

“Okay. Just wanted to make sure.”

“Yeah, hun. I’m okay. I’ll be right down.” I heard the sink come on and I went to the fridge and grabbed a few cans of soda before heading back downstairs. Max came down a few minutes later, his eyes just a tiny bit red, but there was a smile on his face.

“I’m good, promise,” he said, sitting back down.

“I know,” I said.

“WHAT DO YOU
think of this one?” Max said, pointing at yet another bedframe. We were at one of those huge discount warehouses, looking at the “damaged” pieces they couldn’t sell on the main floor. Sometimes the damage was a simple chip in the edge that didn’t hurt the structural integrity, so we were happy to pay a hell of a lot less.

To be honest, most of the stuff was fucking ugly. We were in Maine and a lot of the furniture typical Mainers had in their homes was thick and in dark colors and with gross wood grain that looked cheap.

But Max was good at scanning the entire room and finding the gems hidden in all the crap.

“Oh, that’s not bad,” I said. It was a queen bedframe in a distressed white iron. It had flowers on it, but they were kinda pretty. It wasn’t something I would have picked out, but I liked it.

“Isn’t it a little feminine?” I asked, surprised this would be something he’d pick.

He shrugged.

“I’d rather have this than one of those monstrosities.” He pointed toward these weird “units” that had a giant headboard with shelves and then more shelves on either side, like built-in nightstands. They were just awful.

“True. Okay, let’s put that on the maybe list and keep looking.” I checked the tag before we moved on and it was definitely in our price range.

“Is it weird that I feel like someone is going to come and tell us we’re not allowed to be buying furniture?” Max said. I laughed as we walked by a few ugly dressers.

“No, because I feel the same way,” I said. He reached out and took my hand as we perused.

By the end of the day, we bought the white bedframe, a mattress that was like sleeping on a cloud, two bedside tables, a non-ugly dresser and a small couch. It wasn’t everything we needed, but it was a good start.

I almost fainted when the guy told us the total, but Max pulled out his checkbook and handed the check over without so much as a grimace. We’d agreed to split the cost, so I was just going to give him a check from my account.