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They stood there in the silence. Landon was afraid to breathe and break the moment. It felt right to have her in his arms, to comfort her and to help her. So why did he feel like he should run out the door and never come back? He pushed the thoughts aside and breathed in and out as they stood together. Finally, he spoke the only words he knew to say. “You’re not alone, Hailey. I won’t let you be alone.”
Hailey sniffed, and he pulled back to look at her. Tears trailed down her cheek, and he lifted a finger to catch one.
“Hailey, I’ve seen you spill enough tears for a lifetime.” He closed his eyes and took a breath before opening them again. “I don’t want to be the cause of any of them. I wanted to be here to help you, but I don’t want you to feel alone, and I don’t want to cause you any pain. I’ll go or stay, whatever will make you happy.”
She seemed to consider this as she blinked and looked away from him. When she looked back, her answer was confident. “Stay.”
As slowly as possible, he slid his hands down her arms until his hand found hers. He held firmly to one hand as they walked back to the couch and sat down together. And Landon didn’t let go.
He turned his eyes to the game, but he couldn’t process any of what was going on. Hailey was sitting next to him, and he held her hand in his. Nothing else mattered.
He turned to her. “Are you watching this?”
She grinned. “Not really.”
Landon grabbed the remote and muted the TV before he turned to her. “Then let’s just talk.”
“Okay, what should we talk about?”
“Tell me something I don’t know about you.”
Hailey laughed. “What could you not know about me? I have three kids, and I’m an administrative assistant.” She held up her free hand indicating the room. “I live here, and this is my life.”
“Yeah, I know about you now. What about before? What were you like in high school?”
Hailey snorted. “You do not want to know about that.”
“Sure, I do.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell.”
“You said you were a gymnast.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I was. That took up most of my time. If I wasn’t at school, I was at the gym. If I wasn’t at school or the gym, I was studying, doing homework, or prepping for a competition.”
“Sounds like you were a really dedicated person.”
Hailey tilted her head. “That’s a nice way to look at it. Other people would have said I was a boring person.”
“What’s boring about working hard at a sport that you love?”
“Right? I enjoyed it. Yes, it took a lot of time and hard work, but it was my thing. I just didn’t have a lot of time for fun outside of that.”
“Did you have friends?”
“Yeah, a few friends at school. But they never understood why I was rushing off to practice, or that I couldn’t hang out on Friday night because I had an early meet. And back in those days, we didn’t have texting, so if I wasn’t with them, we were out of touch.”
He nodded. “I know what you mean. It’s strange really that teenagers now are in constant communication with each other.”
“Exactly. I see how it’s nice, but it can be a distraction from being where you are in the moment,” Hailey said.
Landon didn’t want to be distracted from this moment in the slightest bit.
“What about you?” Hailey asked. “I know you played soccer, but the rest of your high school career is a mystery.”
“No, it’s not.” He laughed. “You’ve heard plenty of stories of my high school days.”
“Well, maybe I want to hear some of them again.”
