His arm moves, pulling me into him, and I let him, mostly because of the soul-deep sigh that escapes his chest when he does—a shaky sound that tells me this impacts him more than he knows what to do with. When he pulls back, he looks down at me, and I look up at him, taking in his handsome face and forcing myself to remember that there’s a little girl in the other room scared out of her mind because of the changes she’s experiencing.
“I’ve got this,” I whisper, patting his cheek. He stares for another moment before another sigh leaves his lips, though this one is different, pained, but in a disappointed way.
“I want to kiss you right now,” he whispers, and even though I want to argue with him, even though I should argue with him, I don’t.
Partially because, while I managed to find the willpower to walk away that night after a long, emotional day and avoid him for the past two weeks, now that he’s here before me, staring down at me with his guard absolutely obliterated, I can’t exactly say I don’t want him to kiss me.
Instead, I stay on the topic at hand.
“I’ve got this,” I say, a small smile on my lips, before I tip my chin toward the front door. “Go.”
He stares another moment before nodding, and I drop my hands, expecting him to step back, but he doesn’t. Instead, he bends, dipping to press a soft kiss to the top of my head. He holds it for a moment before he whispers, “Thank you,”there. Then he lets me go and turns, grabbing his phone, keys, and jacket before making his way out the door.
I stand there in shock for a moment before I remember what’s important right now, then turn on my heel, moving back toward Emma’s door and knocking gently.
“Hey, Emma? It’s me, Hallie,” I say against the door, my hand on the stiff handle. “Can you unlock the door for me?” Ihear a sniffle and feel a click under the cool doorknob before I turn it, and she’s moving away to sit on the floor beside her bed. Her eyes are red from crying, her long hair pulled into a bun on the top of her head, and she’s still in her pajamas, despite it being lunchtime.
“Is my dad still here?” I shake my head.
“I had him leave. I figured you’d want to be alone for a bit.” She nods, and I move to sit on the floor next to her. I’m not sure what to do here. I never had to help a girl through her first period, but Mrs. King helped me through mine, so I pull from that.
I remember sniffling in a school bathroom stall, and Wren finding me there, asking what was wrong. When I told her, she nodded, then called her mom, who picked both of us up for the day. My mom had left barely six months earlier, and my dad and brother were so ill-equipped to help, but it didn’t matter. I had Mrs. King. Wren wouldn’t get her period for another two years, but when she did, Mrs. King pulled both of us out of school, and we repeated the process with Wren.
”How do you feel?”
She looks at me, those big eyes watering again.
“Terrible.”
I let out a light chuckle, then put my arms out to her. “Come here, babe.”
Instantly, she does, moving to my side and letting me hold her, and she feels so much younger than she actually is right now.
“I was so excited because everyone says it’s this big moment, but this sucks.”
“Yeah, well, welcome to the next thirty years, at least.” Her head snaps back to look at me with horror, and I bite back a laugh, cutting through the heaviness of the moment. “But don’t worry. I’m here to help.”
The afternoon went as well as one could expect, with a few tears, a lot of junk food, and some female bonding. I’ve made sure to send Jesse a text about once an hour to keep him in the loop and reassure him that she’s safe, without sharing too much information. Hours later, Emma and I are sitting on the couch in pajamas, watching another Mary-Kate and Ashley movie she requested, when I finally get the nerve to ask her.
“Hey, Emma?” I ask.
“Yeah?” She’s happier now as we sit on the couch, in full veg-out mode. For dinner, we had a Chinese food takeout extravaganza, ordering way too much, though I know the leftovers won’t go to waste. I’ve seen how much Jesse can eat, and if he doesn’t want it, I can probably tell Madden there’s leftover up for grabs at his brother’s place, and it will be gone in an hour.
Nat, being the best, even brought a tiny cake withWelcome to Womanhood!written on the top that made Emma laugh. With her permission, I texted Wren an hour ago to update her, and we made plans to have another girls’ day tomorrow at Wren’s place.
“Why’d you call me?” I ask finally. There’s a pause, and her face loses some color, so I quickly add, “Not that I’m complaining, of course. I’m honored. I’m just wondering. Your aunt would drop everything to be here, and your grandma was just as close.” Her eyes are locked on the bowl of candy before her, her fingers move through wrapped packages as if looking for something, but clearly she’s buying time before she finally speaks.
“You don’t treat me like a baby, for one,” she says, and I can tell she’s giving me the easy answer first. “Aunt Wren is the best, obviously. But she’s Aunt Wren. She babieseveryone.” I let out a little laugh in agreement. “And Grandma, she’s great, but I’m her baby’s baby.”
I nod, understanding in part, but not in total.
Until she says her following words.
“You get it. You’re…you’re like me.” An arrow pierces my heart with her words.
“Like you?” I ask, but I already know before she says her next words.
“You get what it’s like, not having a mom.”
