It was also the only piece of furniture in the room. No kitchen or coffee table. No television. No nothing.
What the hell?
“Indy?” I called. “Do you want some help packing up your stuff?”
“No!” she shouted back. “Don’t come back here! Please!”
My heart felt heavy in my chest. Given the state of shit out here, I could only imagine what her room looked like. Did she even have a bed? Or was she just curling up at night with a pillow and a blanket? I really hoped she had that at least.
I cleared my throat. “Uh, do you want me to pack anything else up? Do you want anything from that other room?”
There were two bedrooms and a bathroom, I assumed from the number of doors.
“No…I…I’ll grab a few things. Don’t worry about it.”
I shifted my weight, uncomfortable doing nothing. I was always one to have shit to do, whether it was painting or working at the shop or helping Aunt Wendy at the restaurant. Inaction led to insanity as far as I was concerned.
My skin crawled as I looked around her apartment again. I couldn’t reconcile Indy with this… slum. She was so vibrant and gorgeous and…innocent.
This was where she’d lived for over a year? Really?
“Here’s one bag.” Indy walked down the hall with a large duffle, tossing it into the room. Some of her hair had escaped from her ponytail and she looked kinda frazzled. “Then I just have my school stuff and whatever I need to grab from my dad’s room. I’ll be just a second, I swear.”
“Got nowhere else to be today. You can take your time.” Ignoring the duffle bag and the collection of stains on the sofa, I sat down on the end of the couch. Kicking back, I pulled out my phone and tried to pretend like my skin wasn’t crawling. “I’m good here. Just make sure you pack everything you need. We don’t want to have to come back, right?”
“Right.” Indy whispered. And despite how much I really wanted to check in on her, I didn’t look up from my phone screen as I toggled through my texts.
Aunt Wendy:I expect to see you at family dinner this weekend. No excuses
Shit. I’d managed to duck dinner last week. After I screwed over the family, chose my asshole father over the people who actually loved me, and almost ended up in prison for it all, I wasn’t exactly eager to spend time with them.
How did you tell everyone in your life that you were stupid, regretted every choice you’d made, and wished like hell that you could take the actions of the last three years back?
How could I ever make up for it all?
I couldn’t.
Nothing I could think of would ever make it okay.
Nothing.
“All right. I think that’s it.” Indy puffed, standing in front of me as she held two duffels, her backpack, a computer bag, a pillow, and a large stuffed bear.
It was the bear that made my blood freeze.
“How old are you?” I barked.
Indy’s eyes widened and she took a stutter step backward. “Nineteen. Why?”
I closed my eyes with a sigh then shook my head. “Sorry. I’m being an ass.” I pushed up off the couch and walked toward her. “Give me the bags.”
“No, that’s okay. I got it.” She gave me a wide berth and speedwalked to the front door.
And I let her go.
More than anything, I needed her to know that she was safe with me.
I kicked myself for making her question that when everything else in her life was imploding around her.
