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“Liam, dinner,” Mom shouts this time.
I head to the kitchen and sit at the table. It’s only Mom and me at the table.
“You don’t call me anymore,” she says. “It’s not nice that you don’t call me.”
I wake up with a racing heart. I sit up and take in my surroundings. We must have all crashed in here. I wipe at my forehead, feeling sweaty.
Skylar shifts, then her eyes open, and she watches me. “Are you okay?”
“I. . . had a bad dream. I’m fine. Go back to sleep,” I urge.
“What happened?” she asks.
“Not something I want to talk about.” I blow out a breath.
“Liam,” she whispers. “It’s good to talk.”
“I’m not used to talking, though. Never had anyone to talk to,” I say, and I know it sounds pathetic.
“Once upon a time, you had me,” she reminds me.Until I messed it all up.
“And I screwed up,” I huff.
“Well, you must have done something right because here I am again.” She smirks.
“Smart-ass,” I say, shaking my head.
“Come on, let’s switch rooms. I don’t want to wake Crew up with the talking. He’ll be impossible to get back to sleep.”
We leave the room. I take her by the hand and guide her to my room.
“What happened in your dream?” she asks again.
“It’s kind of like a different version of the same recurring dream,” I explain.
“How so?”
“I always find myself back at my parents’ house. I try to get into David’s room, but for some reason, I can’t. There’s a distraction, or I can’t get his door to open. This time, my mom called me to dinner, and then when I showed up to the table, she was chiding me about not calling her.”
“You really haven’t mentioned your mom all that much since we’ve been together,” Skylar observes.
“That’s because we all have different ways of dealing with our grief,” I clarify.
“That sounds so tragic,” Skylar says. “You all loved David so much, and instead of grieving together, it tore you guys apart.”
“My parents weren’t able to get along. They needed to be apart,” I explain.
“Maybe so, but you’re their son. No matter what happened between them, they still had you. Now that I’m a mom, I get what true love is. The moment the nurse put Crew in my arms, it was love at first sight,” she says, and she pinches her lips.
“My dad barely says anything to me when he comes out to games,” I confess.
“But he still comes,” she replies. “Maybe he needs help expressing what he’s feeling. Maybe his pain still runs deep.”
“I never thought about that. I just figured it was easier for him not to see my face because David and I looked so similar.”
“It sounds like you miss him,” she observes, and those words cause a pang of pain in my chest. I try hard not to think of my family. I bury the loneliness deep inside me, but being with Skylar again feels good. She feels safe, loving, and I don’t feel lonely.
I shrug.
