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“I would like to stay. I can’t live in Florida with my parents,” she laughed. “They’re a little too…worried. That’s the best way to describe it. I’ve already talked to my mom twice this morning.”
“She worries about you.”
“But she doesn’t have to anymore. I’m safe. Thanks to you.”
There was nothing disingenuous about the way she said it. I just didn’t believe it yet. I wasn’t entirely convinced that I helped in any way. I was still working on that whole accepting that not everything was my fault.
Slowly, I held my hand out, hoping she would take mine in hers. It felt like hours passed when it was really just seconds, and then her fingers slid against mine. I swallowed hard, my chest tightening painfully at the sensation.
“It was you, Sky. You’re the hero in this story. You always will be.”
“You jumped in front of a bullet for my son.”
“And if I hadn’t been so fucked up, I could have been there to protect him and?—”
“You mean if Baz hadn’t pumped you full of drugs. You’re taking the blame for something you couldn’t control. You did everything possible to get my son back. Do you know what that means to me? Every day, I wake up and I’m reminded of the sacrifices you made for me.”
I heard what she was saying. It was the same fucking thing my therapist said to me, but that didn’t make it easier to swallow.
“I hurt you,” I admitted, my voice low and shaky. “I fucking hate that I hurt you.”
She smiled at me then, her hand coming up to rest on my cheek. “Enough for today, hmm? You’re not ready to hear it, but one day you will be. We’ll talk about it then.”
After a moment, I couldn’t take the tension any longer. I stepped back, not knowing what else to do. “I uh…” That was it, all I could come up with as I stood in front of her.
“Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow?”
That was a terrible idea.
“Parker hasn’t stopped asking about you since we left. He has so much to tell you about alligators and lizards.”
Dinner would mean being alone with her. With her and Parker. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that, but if we were going to be neighbors, I had to start somewhere. “Yeah, we can do dinner.”
“Great,” she smiled. “Five-thirty. We eat early around here.”
I nodded and watched as she retreated to her house. Nothing could make me move, not even when she went back inside. I stayed there for at least five minutes, wondering if I could fix this.
If I could ever come around to be the man she needed.
“Just go over there.”
“I’m working on it,” I grumbled into the phone. Johnny hadn’t stopped calling since yesterday when he heard Skylar was in town. You’d think he was my father, the way he was bugging me.
“Don’t work on it. Just walk over there and knock on the door.”
I sighed, rubbing my hand over my eyes. Today wasn’t a good day. I’d been fighting a headache since the morning, and nothing was helping. “Maybe I should just cancel.”
“Until when? You get headaches every other day. It could be months before they’re gone. Do you really think putting this off is going to make a difference?”
No, it wouldn’t. But I was afraid of how I would react.
“You’re not going to hurt her,” he said, as if reading my mind.
“You know how I get when the headaches get bad.”
“Yeah, you’ve got a fucking attitude. You’re not going to hurt her. You care about her too much.”
“I hurt her before,” I argued.
