A smile spreads on his face again. Bigger than I’ve ever seen. “You’re my best friend too.”
Forever and always, I hope.
I wrap my arm around his shoulder, grinning as he rests his head against me.
“Elijah! Tobias! You kids out here?!” Dad’s voice echoes over the water.
Our eyes widen as we scoot apart. “Oh no, we’ve been caught,” I gasp.
We make our way back up to the house, heads hung low.
I guess swimming lessons will have to wait. But I’m excited to teach him everything Iknow—
even if he’s bad at it for a while.
Even if he’s scared of drowning.
I won’t let him.
As long as I’m his best friend, I’ll make sure I’ll always be there to pull him out of the deep end.
Every
single
time.
END OF AUGUST
1
Tobias
“Do you remember what I said to you last week?” Mrs. Baker’s warm voice pulls me from my daydream.
My eyes lift to meet hers. I hadn’t realized I was that zoned out. As I pick at a loose thread along the couch’s edge, I try to remember what she said in our last therapy session.
“Um…work on staying in the present moment?”
“Right. Beintentionalwith your time, because it matters.” She sits up and lowers her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “Becauseyoumatter, Tobias. Remember?”
I swallow harshly, feeling my temperature rise. This office is nice. I like coming here most days. When life gets too heavy, and my thoughts are too loud, Mrs. Baker usually knows how to center me. It’s been helping.
I think.
“Tobias—” she cuts in again.
Dammit, I zoned outagain.
“Sorry.” I smile softly. “My head is all over the place today.” Which is the truth. It’s been like that more and more lately.
“Well, how about we start there.” She leans back, flipping open her notebook. “Where’s your head at? What’s been occupying the space?” she asks, clicking her shiny black pen to begin writing.
I’m afraid I’m only going to disappoint her. There’s nothing I want to talk about. Nothing Icantalk about, that’s for sure.
I don’t want to drag her into my mess if I can even call it that.
***
