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The elevator opens and I nudge her inside, following. We ride it down quietly, but I feel her staring at me, as if she has something more to say.
“What was the occasion?” I ask when we step off the elevator.
“Oh, you know…”
“Friday funday?”
“Yeah. Well, that and…”
She lets out a puff of air as I give the valet my tag.
“My sister got engaged.”
“That’s great!” I say. “Tell her congrats.”
“I will.”
“You like Dar, right?”
“Yeah. He’s a good guy. And I mean, he’s basically already family.”
“So… what’s the problem?” I ask.
“I don’t know… there’s not a problem. Not really.” She crosses her arms over her chest and stares at the pavement.
It doesn’t take a stretch of the imagination to guess that this has something to do with her mother. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in for a little hug. It takes her a moment to relax into my hold, but when she does, I take a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of her honeysuckle and vanilla shampoo. I swear I could get high off this stuff.
“I’m okay,” she says after a minute when the valet pulls up in my truck.
“I know you are,” I say, giving her a last squeeze before I grab her door for her. She hesitates before getting in the car. Her eyes cast back over the hospital behind me.
“Do you ever wonder whether every decision you’ve ever made has led you to the wrong place?”
I frown. Her hazel eyes are wide and vulnerable. Despite the tequila I’m sure she’s consumed and seeing Freddy in a hospital bed, her expression is raw and her question is sobering.
“Never,” I say.
“Really?” She looks disappointed.
I shrug. “Every decision I’ve ever made has led me here. To this moment. Driving you home so you can save twenty bucks on a Lyft. And bonus! You don’t have to get into a weirdo’s car.”
She chuckles and shakes her head. The spell has been broken. She climbs into the car and I close the door. But something in her question lingers, settling into my bones. Because all those decisions she just asked about also led to me taking my eyes off my job, which led to Freddy’s leg getting snapped in half.
The radio blasts the moody, angsty sound of Hayley Williams and I chuckle.
“Oh, I know you didn’t just defile my truck with emo,” I say as I climb into the driver’s seat.
“What? I can’t hear you,” she says, humming along to the upbeat tune.
I chuckle and put the truck into gear, heading down the hill toward the river, listening to her hum along with Paramore’s greatest hits all the way back to her house.
5
faye
“Go sports!”Aly yells, waving her green foam finger. The Ptarmigans fly past on the ice as Zeke knocks the puck to Pasha, who slaps it into the back of Denver’s net.
“Go number forty-six!” Caro yells, as if Pasha can actually hear her. “Way to slap his shot!”
