“Yeah, you’re not,” he agrees. “We’re family, Gem. We take care of each other. And we’re too far into this relationship to back out now. We’re stuck.”
I chuckle. “True.”
“Enjoy her,” he adds.
“I am.”
It’s a few hours before Bonnie stirs, and in that time, I’ve made her a snack, called Avie and Stella, and taken the sheets off of my bed. She begins to stir as I sit on the other end of the sectional, tray of food waiting for her.
“Oh my god, is that food?” she groggily asks.
“Best I could do,” I say, watching her sit up—not caring to wrap the blanket around her still-naked body.
If you had told me earlier today that I’d eventually be sitting on the opposite end of my couch from her as she ate cheese and grapes in the nude, I would have laughed.
Bonnie chuckles as she looks at the table and forcibly crosses her legs under her.
“What?” I ask.
“I can’t fucking feel my legs,” she says, and my heart skips a little at the smile she peers at me with.
“We’ll get that blood circulating before we get on the bike,” I tell her.
“Bike?” she asks.
I nod. “Yeah. We still have to go.”
She picks up one of the mini banana nut muffins and begins picking off the walnuts on top. “Do you think Rad will come after us on his own?”
I consider the solemness in her eyes. “Maybe,” I reply. “Maybe not. I don’t know. We’ll figure it out, either way.”
“Together?” she asks.
Our eyes lock for a beat, and I swallow. “Yeah… If that’s okay with you.”
Bonnie pulls off a piece of muffin and pops it into her mouth. “So, where are we going? Where do criminals go to hide?”
“We’re going to your dad’s,” I tell her.
“Mm… the beach. Yes,” she says. “That sounds amazing.”
“I thought you could use fresh air.”
“And you’ll stay with me?” she asks.
I nod again. “I’m not leaving you, Bonnie.”
“Good,” she says. “Because I’m still mad. And we still have a lot to talk about.”
ONE MONTH SOBER, FIVE YEARS EARLIER
BONNIE
The one-month chipin my hand seems to burn my palm as I stare at it.
It’s my second one-month chip, and this time… this time I think I’m doing this for the right reasons.
I’m doing it for me, not because I’m scared of someone else or because of a promise I knew I had no intention of keeping.
