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God, I’d hoped for that for so long. She’d opened up, only once, about her attack that day we’d gone ice skating, and I already felt like I was exponentially closer to her. But to see her house, inside…that’d seal the deal.
I was just thankful she could give me some time tonight. She’d been so busy recently, helping with this dance tomorrow night.
“How did you celebrate Christmas growing up? Open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?” she asked.
“Day. Stockings, too. You?”
“All gifts on Christmas Eve up at Grandma’s. She lived near the Canadian border, so it was always wicked cold and there was always tons of snow. It rocked.”
“That sounds cool, literally. I think I like warm Christmas weather better.” Christmas lights on the cactus in Arizona was awesome.
“Did you stay awake to try and see Santa?”
“No.” Dad wouldn’t tolerate anyone defying the rules, otherwise belts came off and that meant serious pain.
She quirked up her eyebrow but didn’t push it. Damn, I always got so short when it came to talking about my life. I gripped the steering wheel, gathering the courage to trust her a little more. “Dad was a mean son of a bitch, so if he laid down a rule, I followed it, or Mom would pay the price.”
“Pay the price?”
“Forherson acting out.” I bit back a slew of curse words wanting to stream out, like it did when I started getting worked up about Dad and how much he’d hurt Mom…and me. “When I did something well, I was Dad’s good kid. But if something wasn’t quite up to par with him…he got rough.”
“I assume when you sayroughyou mean he dished out some serious punishment.”
I nodded. She already knew me so well.
“I get it.” She squeezed my hand. “And your mom’s scar…was that for somethingyousupposedly did wrong?”
I glanced at her. She knew Dad was responsible for that?
“She told me. Not the details, only that your dad had done it and you two were on the run from him.”
“Wow, she told you a lot.”
“Not really. Mostly that was it, she said it was your story to tell.” Lina smiled. “She’s pretty awesome you know?”
I nodded. “She likes you a lot, too.”
“Well, survivors kind of latch onto one another. It’s hard to describe, but there’s this innate connection. It’s like you feel so alone, like you’re the only one who has ever suffered so greatly. When you find another living soul who’s experienced something so big you can sense it, there’s this invisible cord or something holding you together.”
“That’s a pretty good way to describe it.” I couldn’t help but smile. “Mom has said the same thing before. And about you.”
We sat in silence for the last five minutes of the drive. I’d called in a big favor for this surprise, hopefully it’d be all ready.
“Planetarium?” Lina whispered as she checked her phone. “It’s so late, though.”
It was almost eight o’clock, but the facility closed to the public at five, and the cleaning people didn’t come for two hours. Thanks to Janey, we’d have it to ourselves until then.
I steered the truck around to the back entrance. Janey’s car was there, right where she said it would be. This might work out fine.
I parked the car and looked over at Lina. She grinned back at me. “What’s going on?”
“Surprise.” I pushed open my door, then rushed around to hers and helped her out.
She took in her surroundings, then landed that power-packed gaze on me. “You’re surprising.”
Good. I was aiming for that, so that made me smile. I grabbed her hand and brought her to the door and knocked three times.
The door creaked open a few seconds later and Janey peeked out. “Hey guys.”
