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“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I argued, remembering the words that Pop had shouted at Nana. “Look at me and Bird. You raised us, and we’re fucking awesome.”
“Truth,” Rumi’s mom agreed.
“So what are we going to do?” Rumi asked.
It was that moment, that small insignificant moment, when he asked whatwewere going to do, that I knew I would’ve never survived to that point without him. He was my other half. My soul mate. I reached for his hand and threaded my fingers between his.
“Can you call Nix?” Callie asked Brenna.
Brenna nodded. “My brother knows all the good lawyers. He’ll know of a good family law attorney that we can hire.”
“Not sure how we can afford that before the trailer is sold,” Nana replied, wringing her hands. I knew how painful those words were to say.
“Who said you’re paying?” Brenna asked as she stood up, pulling her phone out of her purse. She put the phone up to her ear and walked into the kitchen.
“It’s going to be okay,” Rumi murmured in my ear. “Promise.”
“I’m not sure how,” I whispered back as the women started talking again.
My entire life was crumbling, and it felt like the only thing I could do was sit there and watch it fall. Bird was right, the hits just kept on coming.
Chapter 23
Rumi
“Hey, you busy?”I asked quietly, poking my head through the crack in the door. Nova was on my bed, staring at the ceiling.
“Hey,” she murmured, turning to look at me. “What are you doing home so early?”
“Couldn’t wait to see my best girl,” I replied, shrugging.
“Oh yeah?”
“Ash is on the phone, so you’ll do,” I teased, moving into the room.
“She’s always on the phone,” Nova said with a sigh, rolling onto her side with a groan. “We just want to spend some time with her, but she’s obsessed with making sure that everything is okay here before she turns herself in.”
“Day after tomorrow, right?”
“Yep.” She tucked her hands under her head. “I kind of hated those cops before, but they’re pulling a lot of strings to make sure she has the time she needs.”
“If preparing you guys for when she’s not here is helping her, let her do her thing.” I reached out to run my fingers through her hair. The patch that had been torn out was scabbed over and she’d figured out a way to part her hair so that it wouldn’t show, but I knew exactly where it was. I’d never forget.
“It just feels like we’re stuck in a loop, you know?” she replied quietly. “It’s the same thing every day. Nothing changes, but every second is one second closer to her leaving.”
“Then let’s get out of here.”
“What?” She grinned. “And go where?”
“Anywhere.” We hadn’t had a second alone in longer than I cared to remember and I’d been wondering how I could convince her to leave the house. Nova’s family had been living with me for almost two weeks, and I loved Bird and Ash, and I actually really liked having them with us most of the time, but I missed having Nova to myself. Even at night, Bird slept in my room, usually on the other side of Nova in my bed.
“Okay,” Nova replied slowly. “I’ll go anywhere.”
“Bike?” I asked, my lips twitching.
“Truck,” she responded dryly, sitting up. She was moving around more easily now and it was such a fucking relief.
“Can’t blame a guy for tryin’,” I joked as I followed her out of the room.
