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“I’m told it’s one of my redeeming qualities.”
“You have many.”
“Sure. If you’re into people with avoidant personality disorder.”
He laughed and shook his head, taking another bite of his taco. His square jaw tensed as he chewed.
More crunching in silence. I knew it was my turn. I swallowed my bite, and then I had to swallow my pride.
“I didn’t mean to freak out over it. You were trying to do something nice, and I overreacted. I appreciate you asking your mom about the apartment. I’ve been thinking a lot about it, actually.”
“You have?”
“I can’t keep staying at Shelly’s. She’s got her own life, and I don’t want to interfere.”
“Something tells me she doesn’t look at it that way.”
“She doesn’t. She’d never say so, but I know she is tired of being woken up in the middle of the night, and she feels like she can’t have Brody over. I feel like I’m putting her entire life on hold.”
“What’s waking her up in the middle of the night?”
I looked down at my lap, wishing I hadn’t let that part out. “I just have nightmares sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
“Every time I try to sleep, I have this recurring nightmare. It’s terrifying, so I guess I scream in my sleep… and it wakes her up.”
Chase’s eyebrows pushed together. “What is happening in your dream?”
I wanted to say I didn’t remember, but he was watching me too closely. He’d know I was lying, and call me out on it. “Do you know any of the details about my accident?”
“Just that you were pulled from your car after you crashed into a tree.”
“Well, the dream is very vivid. It’s like reliving that night over and over. I can feel the blood gushing out of my head; I can smell the burning from the fire. I wait to be rescued, but it never happens… so I’m trapped.”
“How does it end?”
“I close my eyes and accept the fact that I’m about to die. That’s usually the part when Shelly wakes me up.”
His eyes looked far away. I knew he must have been searching for the right thing to say.
“Hopefully your parents put some really good insulation in that apartment, so I don’t wake up the entire household.”
His eyes raised up to meet mine. “Are you saying you’re going to take it?”
“I’d like to talk to your parents first.”
“You can tomorrow, after therapy.”
I nodded.
“Speaking of tomorrow, you should come out to Big Nose Kate’s tomorrow night.”
I scrunched my nose. “I try to avoid crowds with this contraption.”
“I bet you could get a lot of free drinks with a sling.”
“I don’t need a sling to get free drinks.”
