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I follow, careful not to get the trash bag full of toys caught in the door as we leave. I’m not awake enough to attempt to gather a bunch of fuzzy toys up if the bag happens to burst. I let out a relieved sigh that the bag wasn’t too big for the exit, and then I lock up the store and post the owner’s spare key through the letterbox. We head back the way we came, Rachel holding onto my arm to stay steady in her heels.
“This guy needs a name,” she tells me.
“Well, don’t look at me. My mom got me a goldfish when I was five and I insisted on naming him Fish.”
She laughs. “Fish?”
“Apparently, I’m lacking in the imagination department. I’m sure Carter will help you name him.”
“No freaking way. I’m not naming my new pet after a character from one of those vampire bodice rippers that he reads.”
I laugh. That definitely sounds like something Carter would do.
“Then what about Fox?”
“I’m just going to call him Blue.”
“Is that really any better than Fox?”
“Is Goldie any better than Fish?”
Huh. Okay. She has a point.“Goldie would have been a better name than Fish.”
“See? Plenty of people name their pets after the color of their fur or scales or whatever,” she adds.
“I thought most people these days give their pets human names?” I ask, sure I read something about it not too long ago.
“Maybe. Let’s not talk about those people.”
“Tough subject?”
“Well, let’s just say a girl at my high school used to talk about this guy called Albert all the time. I thought he was her boyfriend for the longest time. Turns out, boyfriends don’t lick peanut butter off the floor. Who knew?”
I snort. “You seriously thought she had a boyfriend called Albert?”
She shrugs. “I mean, she was talking about taking him to prom.”
“Now you’re just making this up.”
“I swear …” she says, trailing off as the sky starts to brighten.
We stop walking when we see the sun rising. The colors are so vivid.
“It’s so beautiful,” she murmurs, captivated.
I look at Rachel and watch her smile warm, and her eyes sparkle.
She’s my sun. Everything’s always better when she’s around. She chases away the dark clouds that surround me when she’s not close. I wrap my arm around her, and she rests her head on my shoulder.
We go home once the sun is up, crawl into bed together and pass the hell out.
Chapter Thirty
Rachel
IwakeupinSilas’ bed, wearing one of his shirts and hugging the blue fox he won for me. He’s out of it next to me, sleeping on his front, I assume in his underwear, though I’m pretty sure I passed out the second my head hit the pillow last night, or this morning, or whatever, so I have no idea what he was wearing when he crawled in beside me.
All I know is, the skull charm I made him is still fastened around his wrist.
