“You’re all talk, Birdie.” He eats some pizza before saying, “Amelia was out faster than ever tonight.”
Winter read to her while we waited for the pizza to arrive. That was after I got her ready for bed. “I think the heat has exhausted her this week, which is probably why she wasn’t herself today.”
My phone sounds with a text and Winter groans. “I’m getting rid of my phone,” he mutters.
I check my phone in case it’s not the chat group texting us and discover a text from Maddox.
Maddox
Girls are so confusing.
My heart trips over herself as I read his message. Maddox sometimes reaches out this way. I think it’s because he finds it easier to be vulnerable via text rather than face-to-face. Whatever the reason, I live for these texts.
“It’s Maddox,” I say to Winter who watches me knowingly.
Me
Just so you know, boys are too.
Maddox
Like, why does she tell me she wants to get back with me and then sleep with him? That makes no sense.
My heart doesn’t just trip now; she full on falls to her knees.
Thisis why I will forever keep on getting up every day and putting one foot in front of the other while making peanut butter sandwiches, packing Wet Ones in my bag, pulling my kids up on swearing while thinking it’d be a hell of a lot easier to just let them swear their heart out, arguing over homework, fighting over who will fill the dishwasher every night, and praying every bed in the house is occupied each night.
He needs me to love him, and cherish him, and help him get through this precious life we have.
He needs me to hold his hand even though he thinks he’s too old for that.
He needs me to bandage his scars when the world is mean.
Me
I agree. Completely. But love doesn’t always make sense because people don’t always make sense. Life beats us up, Maddox, and we find odd ways of dealing with those beatings. The trick is to find the people who see the beatings for what they are and who will love you through them.
Maddox
Okay, Queen, now you’re doing that thing you do when you talk in riddles. Can you dumb that shit down for me?
Me
Go to her and talk to her. Ask her why she did it, and when I say ask her, I mean exactly that. Don’t throw your hurt at her and tell her she deserves a guy like Todd. You don’t really mean that. I know she hurt you, and she’ll need to find a way to make that right with you, but I know Leia, and I’m guessing she’s got her reasons for what she did. You have to find out those reasons and then decide if you can live with them.
Maddox
And if I can’t?
Me
If you can’t, she’s not the girl for you.
Maddox
This is all so dumb.
Me
