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Tucking a foot under my butt, I tell him, “We have crickets at home.”
“They sound different here.”
Listening closely, I come to the conclusion he’s right.
“Jase said you got a phone call,” I remark casually, wondering if it was the call that has him acting pensive.
He shifts so he can put his arm over my shoulders. I lean my head on his shoulder.
“It was Mia. She wanted to hear from me that you were truly okay. She didn’t trust Trent to give it to her for real for fear of hurting her.”
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
I smile into the darkness, grateful that Andrew eased Mia’s worry. Mia can be tough as nails, but when it comes to the people she cares about and the possibility they could be hurting, she hurts right along with them.
Andrew dashes away my gratitude when he continues.
“I told her you weren’t, but you will be.”
I try to sit up, but Andrew’s arm tightens around my shoulders, “Andrew—”
He cuts me off.
“You can smile and tell me you’re fine until you’re blue in the face, but you’re not fooling me. And from the way Trent’s kept his eyes on you all night, you ain’t fooling him either. You’re struggling, baby girl.”
The back of my eyes sting. Squeezing them tightly closed, I try really hard to prevent the tears from falling. Andrew has always been able to tell when something’s bothering me. I don’t know if it’s from paternal instinct or he just has a way about him, but I’ve never been able to keep my feelings from him. It’s part of the reason why I left Jaded Hollow and came here. Even if there were no side effects from the treatment and I managed to get to my appointments without anyone knowing, there’s no way I could have hidden my illness from Andrew. I wouldn’t have been able to hide it from Trent either. Hell, I was lucky I hid it for as long as I did.
“It’s okay, you know,” Andrew says, pulling me from my thoughts. “It’s okay to be scared. I would be worried if you weren’t.”
“I know.” I sniff, using the end of my sleeves to wipe my nose.
“You’ve had to fight this way too many times. I hate that I can’t do anything.”
I grab his hand and kiss the back of it. “You’ve already done so much for me.”
The first time I had leukemia, I needed a bone marrow transplant. My parents weren’t viable donators. Andrew was. He saved my life back then, and he’s been doing it ever since in other ways.
“It’s not enough,” he says quietly. My heart breaks at the helpless tone in his voice. “I need to do more.”
“The more you can do is be there for me, like you’ve always been.” I sit up and turn to face him. “You know what makes me the luckiest girl alive?”
His eyes glow from the streetlight when he looks at me. “What?”
“Being blessed to not only have one loving father, but two.” I smile and tack on. “Well, three, actually. Jase may tan my hide if I didn’t include him.”
He chuckles. “I think you’re right. If anyone loved you as much as Trent and me, it would be Jase.”
His smile dims some. “Trent may be here with you, but I know you like to try to hide your feelings if it’s something that may hurt him. Lean on him, Ally. Let him be your strength for a while. It’s okay to cry, baby girl. Don’t bottle it up because it’ll eventually come out, and it’ll hurt you both a lot more when that explosion happens.”
Dipping my head, I give him a weak nod. “Okay.”
Throwing his arm back over my shoulders, he pulls me back to his side. We sit quietly for a few minutes.
He grabs the end of my scarf that hangs over his shoulder and brings it up to rub against his cheek.
“When did this start?” he asks, his voice low.
