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I, however, have nothing. A brain-dead stare is all I can come up with.We should have been more careful.Why weren’t we more careful? If anyone else were to find out about this, it could have serious ramifications for the both of us.
“You can’t tell anyone Andrea.” My mind is racing three steps ahead of everyone else in the room. “You have to promise me that much, please Andrea. The last thing we need is the paparazzi finding out. Not yet, anyway.”
“Okay, okay.” Andrea sighs. “My lips are sealed. I swear I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone. But you owe me some details. You have to give me something.”
“I owe you nothing. If anything, you owe me. Have you already forgotten about Ashton?”
She completely ignores me. “A signed poster? A guitar pick? Something to commemorate this momentous occasion.”
Kill me now. My stomach squeezes tightly in response.I bury my head in my hands, grumbling a long list of words my mother would be ashamed to hear coming from my mouth.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Kael promises her.
Andrea tells himthanksandgoodbye,and when I look up again, she’s gone, and Bailey’s face is back on the screen. Thank you, sweet baby Jesus.
“Cemeteries are full of dead people,” he says, and seriously, could this whole interaction be any more of a disaster?
Kael must think my family are all nuts.
Bailey’s face is relaxed, though, his hands are stilled, seemingly pleased that Andrea’s no longer shrieking in his ear.
I’m silent for a second, my mind reeling with his cryptic clues. “Bailey, I’m not sure what you’re trying to tell me.”
“Right angles. Diagonals. Straight lines.” He raises his eyebrows disdainfully. “White wood. Red flames.”
I hate when he looks at me like that. For the most part, we have our own language, our own way of communicating with one another, especially after our mom passed away, and I can almost always crack the code. But this one, I’m not so sure about.
With gritted teeth, Bailey fists his hands into his curls, and I hope he gives me something more to work with because a spear of worry stabs through me that maybe I’m losing my touch.
“You’re going to Arlington Cemetery,” says Kael, shifting his weight. He leans in closer, and Bailey’s face instantly relaxes into a soft smile.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” I whisper, feeling an ache deep in my chest, a warming edge that leaves me feeling a little light-headed. Kael understood, so clearly, so simply, and I almost want to cheer.
“When are you going there, man?” Kael asks.
“After lunch.”
“Have a good time.”
“I will.”
And then the screen goes black, and Bailey is gone, leaving Kael and I alone in the kitchen once again.
“He’ll know everything there is to know about Cold Neptune next time he sees you. Prepare to be inundated with facts. He might even surprise you.”
“He’s a cool kid.”
“Yeah, he really is.”
Kael’s hand slides around my waist. “You’re kind of a package deal, huh?” He presses a quick kiss to my temple.
“Some people can’t handle the responsibility.” I know this first hand. “Some people can’t handle the baggage that comes with caring for a kid with disabilities.”
Kael smiles at me, but there’s something missing now. His eyes don’t hold the same shine as they did before, like there’s something on his mind, something troubling him.
Jonathan was one of those people who couldn’t handle it, and it suddenly dawns on me at that very moment, as I watch Kael head back upstairs to start packing our bags, that maybe he is one of those people, too.
I really hope not. It’s exhausting to think about.
