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“Leave Adam out of this.”
Minty rinsed his shirt again. “Still protective of him?”
“No. But Adam isn’t some Neanderthal who threatened me and my friend with physical violence.”
“Right now? You and me? We aren’t friends.”
More of this again? “Yes, we are!”
He scrubbed harder at his pale skin until it was red and mottled.
“You can’t be serious about wanting someone like him,” I murmured, coming closer to put my hand on his bare shoulder. “You can’t want that.”
Minty shrugged me off and didn’t meet my eyes. “You don’t know what I want.”
“Minty,thisscared me.You’rescaring me.”
He met my gaze in the mirror again. It frightened me how tired he looked. It was like he was suddenly a hundred years old. “Christ, Peter. I wish I had your life.”
“Meaning?”
“You have no idea, do you?” Pulling on his wet shirt, he waved me off. “Go on. Leave. It’s fine.I’mfine. And if I see that guy again, I’ll make sure he treats me nicer before offering him my ass, okay? Happy?”
“Minty, please.”
“Stop. I don’t want to hear it. Just go.”
I went, but my heart worried over him for the rest of the day. My classes went by in a blur. I couldn’t stop replaying the moments in the bathroom over and over again.
***
That night, onthe phone with Daniel, I had planned to tell him about Minty’s performance piece, the upsetting encounter in the bathroom, and Minty’s odd behavior afterward, but Daniel had his own troubles and needed an ear.
“ARK is asking me back. There are new PWAs every day, and they’re running out of volunteers. There’s even a person out this way—over in Rockwood—who could use support. I feel like such an asshole, Peter, but I don’t think I have it in me yet. Not so soon after Bobby.”
“You’re not an asshole, Daniel.” He was never an asshole, and I didn’t know how to get that through his head. He was always so sure that he was both the problem and the answer to the problem. The hero and the villain all at once. “You’re getting the house ready to sell, and you’re still grieving.”
“It’s a full-time job cleaning this place out. There’s a lot to arrange. I’ve made God knows how many trips to the dump, and that’s just dealing with the stuff in my dad’s old garage. There’s still the entire basement to sort through. I’ve got a half dozen boxes to send down to the kids. And I’ve got to meet with the estate sale company next week…”
“Daniel, if you can’t do it, or just don’t want to do it, it’s okay.”
“But they need help.”
“And so do you.”
He sighed. “Nadine’s been coming over to help sometimes after her shifts at the diner. But she’s not able to move anything heavy. Still, I got her to pack up my mom’s room. I didn’t want to go through her things. It felt wrong somehow.”
“I understand.”
“The kids are miserable.”
“Oh no.” The idea of little Kennedy miserable tugged on my heartstrings.
“Well, that’s an exaggeration. They miss Mom, and they miss me, but Grandma says it’s getting better every day. Paul’s causing trouble at school, though. What if I did the wrong thing? Maybe I should have kept them here with me and—”
“Daniel, breathe.”
He sucked in a deep breath.
