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I tiptoed down to the kitchen, and if Mom heard the creaky stair as I passed over, she didn’t leave Betsy’s room to investigate.
Behind the closed kitchen door, I tugged open the fridge and looked for milk. I’d never actually tried drinking it warm to help with sleep, but tonight I felt so wound up that I was willing to try it.
Pouring a white stream of it into a pan on the stove, I turned the gas starter until it clicked and lit, then I set it on a low temperature.
While I stirred, I thought back over the car ride home. Betsy had bargained, pleaded, shouted, hit herself, hit the back of the passenger car seat…
I hadn’t seen a meltdown like that from her in years. And she was entirely justified. She’d been suddenly and unceremoniously removed from a situation where she’d been very happy and taken away from the man she loved.
Another strike of lightning, and even louder thunder. The rain pelted the windows as it came down sideways.
The stress of the day took my mind to dark places, conjuring up situations where someone might take Minty away from me.
Like if he got sick, and the hospital or his mom wouldn’t let me see him. Or if he gotreallysick, and death insisted on taking him away forever. Or if he found out his T-cells had dropped, and he decided to end everything on his own terms, leaving me to struggle on without him. Or if he went back to Kyle…
I’d fight tooth and claw to keep him safe, and to stay with him too. Just like Betsy had done.
No, it wasn’t fair what we were doing to Betsy and Rodney. I had to find a way to fix it.
Pouring the milk into a glass, I turned and couldn’t hold back a startled yelp, clutching my heart.
In the window of the kitchen door, a ghostly face stared in. Wet, blond hair hung in clumps around blue eyes.
“Minty!” I pulled open the door and held up my milk as he rushed to grasp me in a hug. “Baby, what’s wrong? What are you doing here?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, ear pressed to my chest. “I tried to handle it on my own, but I need you.”
I pushed him away enough to see his face. “What happened?” Adrenaline pumped hard, and my blood hummed with fear. “Are you hurt?”
He shook his head, gazing up at me strangely.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” He collapsed against my chest again, wet through, and I rubbed his back with one hand, holding the milk in the other, shaking with shock and worry. Guiding him to the kitchen table, I seated him in a chair and then went to put on the kettle to make some hot tea. I didn’t even know what kind my mom might have, but all I could think to do was to warm him up.
“Let me get you some dry clothes,” I whispered, putting my finger to my lips. I didn’t want my mom coming down. This was not the state of mind I wanted her to meet Minty in, and there was nothing she could do to help, no matter what was going on with him.
Minty gazed up at me strangely. “You grew a beard,” he murmured.
I felt the soft, newly grown hair on my face. It’d started because I’d forgotten to buy new razors at the store, but I’d continued with it because I thought it made me look a little older. More distinguished.
“I like it,” he added softly.
“Wait here.”
In the laundry room, I found a basket of my clean things. I hadn’t had time to fold them before it’d been time to leave to get Betsy that morning. I grabbed a pair of sweatpants even though I knew they’d be too big on him, and an even bigger sweatshirt, and brought them out.
When I peeled his puffer coat off, I was surprised to find he was wearing boy-drag—a yellow, long-sleeved, graphic t-shirt with the Mayfield Cow on it and a pair of faded jeans. He wore tennis shoestoo. Scuffed up ones. I didn’t ask, though, and instead helped him shuck the wet things and tug on my borrowed clothes instead.
He looked like a child in the oversized sweats, clasping a big mug of hot tea in his hands, and chewing on his bottom lip like he was about to get a scolding. As if Icouldscold him when he looked so devastated. I had a horrible fear that I knew what’d happened. I’d hoped that over the last month Kyle had moved on from his fixation on Minty. But…looking at him now, I knew I was wrong.
“Baby,” I asked, kneeling at his feet. “Talk to me.”
Minty blew out a hard breath, and then groaned softly. “I did something.”
“Okay.” My heart pounded. Had he gone to Kyle? Had he let him use him? Or had he been assaulted?
With a trembling hand, he pointed at his coat. “Can I have that back, please?”
