Page 102 of Goodbye Days

“I want you to tell me exactly how to handle the Jesmyn situation.”

“I wish I had a simple answer. I’m not just being coy here.”

“I’d even settle for a complex answer,” I murmur. “Any answer.”

“I’m confident one will present itself in time. Sometimes answers arise through the process of elimination.”

I give a rueful laugh. “I’m working hard on eliminating all the answers that allow me to feel like a normal, happy human being. Wanna hear something funny, though?”

He raises his eyebrows and nods for me to continue.

“When Eli’s dad was saying how he considers me responsible, I didn’t want to accept responsibility the way I did when I talked about it with Blake’s grandma.”

“What were you feeling?”

“I wanted to tell him about Billy and Hiro. Even though that’s stupid and they don’t exist.” Tears cloud my throat.

Dr. Mendez gives me a moment to compose myself. Then he leans back and makes himself comfortable. “How about telling me a story?”

I sigh and stand in front of the open fridge of my imagination for a few seconds. “So there’s this guy named…Jiminy Turdsworth.”

Now on top of everything else, Jesmyn won’t leave my thoughts. Eli’s goodbye day opened some door I can’t shut again.

Not that I’ve tried very hard.

“No, I’m sorry. You are not going to a sold-out Dearly show, with a hot girl, dressed like a sad-ass Ernest Hemingway,” Georgia says.

I shrug. “Well.”

“Well nothing. You’re lucky Maddie and Lana and I drove in from Knoxville in time to fix this. The show starts in eight hours. We’re taking you to Opry Mills Mall.”

I lower my voice to a hoarse whisper; I can hear them talking and laughing in Georgia’s room. “Maddie and Lana always sexually harass me.”

“Oh, puhlease. You love the attention from college girls.”

“No I don’t. They always seem to be mocking me.”

“They are.”

“See?”

“You still love it.”

I try on clothes while Maddie and Lana hoot and whistle, trying to make me blush. When we’re done, I’m wearing a pair of dark-gray jeans that hurt my nuts, some brown Chelsea boots, and a black jacket. I look good, though. I have to grudgingly admit that much. And I’m excited for the show and seeing Jesmyn. Seeing her every day doesn’t diminish that in any way.

Not even Maddie and Lana taking turns trying to slap me on the ass in the parking lot on the way to the car dampens my mood.

I forget about the Accident.

I forget about the DA and Mr. Krantz.

I forget about my phone and laptop sitting at the TBI, waiting for something incriminating to be pulled off them.

I forget about Blake’s and Eli’s goodbye days.

I forget about Nana Betsy living on a hillside somewhere in East Tennessee.

I forget about Pierce and Melissa living in separate houses.