“She left with Moira,” my dad says, bursting my hope bubble.
I groan and try to stand, but he pushes me back down. “Don’t do that. The nurse said they pumped you full of pain killers. Wait for the helicopter. Kenji and Nora went to some effort to make the arrangements.”
“Just let Dr. Frankenstein work on me. I don’t mind looking like a monster.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“Neither are you,” I complain, trying to get up again. My balance is wonky, though, and I let him guide me back down. “Why isn’t she here?”
“She said she was going to check on Cookie, but she seemed really upset.” He sighs. “I suspect you kids haven’t been totally honest with us.”
“I’m in love with Nora,” I admit.
It feels surprisingly freeing to say the words, even though I definitely shouldn’t have. I promised her not to tell anyone, didn’t I?
Then again, our parents are going to find out at some point. Maybe it’s time to put it all out there.
My dad drops his hat. I’m pretty sure he’s staring at me, but my fuzzy vision isn’t positive.
“Dad?”
“Uh…she mentioned you’d gotten involved in a fake relationship to fool Pansy.”
But not that we’ve been for-real involved for weeks. I’m not surprised she didn’t tell him, but it still hurts. I want everyone to know. I’d like to shout it from the helicopter that I’m apparently going to get stuffed into.
“Well, I’m in love with her. I was in love with her in high school too, so maybe I never stopped.”
“Cormac, my God.” He stoops to pick up his hat and wrings it between his hands. “Why didn’t you tell me? If I’d known, I wouldn’t have…”
“Wouldn’t have married Moira?” I ask. “Why not? I might not have understood why you married her at first, but I meant what I said the other day. I’m figuring it out. After everything she’d been through, she still wanted marriage to mean something. You love her, so you wanted to give that to her.”
“Yes, and I wanted to live my life with her, out in the open.” He sighs as he messes with his hat. “Moira is a little old-fashioned in some ways. She might find it…distressing that you two have feelings for each other.”
“You think Nora has feelings for me too?”
She told me so. She saidI love you.She looked into my eyes and said it. But she also left.
I might not be fantastic at reading social cues, but that message seems pretty evident. Maybe she only said she loved me because she felt she should reciprocate.
God, why had I said anything about the stupid robot? I should have shut up about it for the rest of my life, like any normal person would have.
Of course, a normal person probably wouldn’t have designed a robot as an apology gift for a girl who could barelystand to look at him, but very few people have ever accused me of being normal.
“Son, like I said, she was crying. Moira’s never seen her cry like that, not since she was a little girl.”
My chest hurts.
Okay, a lot of things hurt. José obviously doesn’t miss arm day. He hit me pretty hard, and that—combined with the shards of my glasses—did a number on me.
“I don’t want to wait to see her. I need to talk to her.”
He runs a hand over my hair, as if I’m a little boy again awoken by a frightening dream. “Son, if I’ve learned anything in this life it’s that you need to wait for the right time. Wait until your mind is clear and you know exactly what to say.”
“It took me this long to figure out the wrong thing to say. I might be your age before I figure out what the right thing is. No offense.”
He smiles, the expression blurry but unmistakable. “Give yourself a little more credit. After all, I understand you’ve been spending time with my friends Dottie and Ann. If anyone can help you form the right words, it’s them.”
“And you.” My throat feels scratchy all of a sudden, but I get the words out. “I have you.”
