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CHAPTER11
NOVA
Pris makestea in the kitchen, and I move to the oversized chair in the corner, tucking my feet up and enjoying the plushness of the cushions. Figgy has accepted that the chaos is over, and he curls up on my lap. Tabby and Del sit on the couch across the room, staring at me.
“Y’all are making me nervous, staring at me like that.” I scratch Figgy’s head, and his purr rumbles against my palm.
“You have the cutest accent. Where are you from?” Del asks, and I give them the basics of my life.
They get the watered-down highlight reel: the Hallmark snapshot of life in the American South. I mention nothing of Mom’s company, my pseudo-celebrity status, or the dark reason I ended up on the road in the first place.
“You look kind of familiar to me for some reason,” Tabitha says, tugging on a strand of her blue hair and scrunching her nose. “It’s been bugging me.”
My heart hitches, and I fight to keep my features neutral. Pris carries a tray with tea to the coffee table and kneels on the floor.
“Oh yeah?” I take my tea from Pris, and she nods.
“I thought that, too. For some reason, I feel like I’ve seen you before.”
Del taps her lip.
“Weird.” I distract myself with a big sip of hot tea, wishing Zeke would hurry up and get down here.
“So, what are you going to do while you’re here?” Del asks. “Besides growing a baby, I guess. Do you know how long you’re staying?”
“I don’t. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting Zeke to be so full-on.”
Tabitha laughs, and Del and Pris share a side glance. It intrigues me, leading me to a deeper curiosity about Zeke.
“He dove right in. I mean, he’s on the verge of vomit every time he mentions the baby, but I kind of assumed I’d be left to deal.” I feel like a bitch saying it because of how he reacted. But I hear too many stories of boys who refuse to step up or make her fight to prove it’s his. There’s none of that with Zeke.
“That’s Zeke,” Pris sets her tea down and hugs her knees to her chest. “He’s always been like that. He goes for it.”
“He’s never been one to sit around and pontificate,” Tabitha interjects. “He’s a doer. A tip on handling him for you: just give him something to do.”
“Especially if you need to talk about something. Give him a job, and then start talking. You’ll get a lot more out of it.” Del laughs, and Tabitha joins in. Pris’s smile seems odd on her. She’s so serious, it’s unnerving.
“Good to know,” I say, shifting my mug in my hands.
He basically told me the same thing.
Can we, like, go on a walk or a drive or something? This isn’t how I think.
The conversation quickly turns away from Zeke to Raston and what I can do here to keep myself busy—which is practically nothing. It’s something called shoulder season, which I’ve never heard of. It’s when it’s too cold and gross to do summer things, but not snowy enough to do winter things.
With all the stress lately, taking some chill time to refocus will be good. I’ve slipped in many ways: eating worse, exercising less, stressing more. These are things that don’t work well for my MS. Maybe I can take this chance to get on track.
Zeke comes through the back entrance with a duffel thrown over his shoulder and a toothbrush in his mouth. The hood of his sweater is up, shadowing his face, and I notice that he's had it up for most of the day. His eyes are soft when they meet mine, and he gives me an apologetic smile, which is crooked and adorable.
It’s strange how he can shift so effortlessly between boyish charm and manly presence. My experience with guys isn’t extensive. I’ve only been with a few, but none of them were at this level. I realize that I have no idea how old he is.
I bite my bottom lip, and we stare at each other from across the room.
Of all the ways this could have gone, this is positive. Just as intense, I think. And I’m exhausted, but not for the reasons I initially assumed.
I expected to fight with Zeke to acknowledge the baby. When his sisters swooped in, I assumed they’d be judgmental and cruel. When he offered me a place to stay in his mother’s basement, I figured it would be dingy and filled with video game stuff and posters of naked women.
But every one of them has been nothing but generous and kind, blowing all my expectations right out the window. I thought the worst of all of this.
