She swallowed the lump in her throat and smiled. “Yeah.”
He told her about every member of his family, his dad, his siblings, Shane’s two boys and Dom’s three girls. Stories about his niece, Makayla, took about fifteen minutes on its own. His blue eyes lit up just talking about her.
He seemed to be closest to his brother, Max, and despite the fact that he was adamant that sisters were annoying, he definitely had a soft spot for Jordan.
He told her that Dom was a carbon copy of his dad, strong and ever reliable. Shane never shut up and Kevin usually tried his best to avoid him. Max was in love with his best friend, Danielle aka Danny, but was too much of a dork to make a move. And Jordan was snarky and sarcastic, but deep down she had a good heart.
From hunting trips with his dad and brothers to big family lunches at Christmas, he rehashed all his favorite memories. He mentioned Perry a few times, quite by accident, but Perry’spresence seemed to be intricately woven into every memory, making it impossible to tell a story without him in it. She could sense that they had once been very close and was intrigued to know what had happened to cause their friendship to fall apart. Kevin chose to sidestep it completely and after a short pause each time, he moved on like the name hadn’t been mentioned.
She listened to every detail with fascination, her mind trying to conjure up images as if she were a witness to all those memories. She was a smart girl. She could figure out theorems and equations and chemical compounds, but trying to picture the love within his family unit was unfathomable, something she knew nothing of. She could see it, see them eating together as family, laughing around the dinner table, but she had no idea what it wouldfeellike.
“Do you want that someday?” she asked. “A big family of your own?”
His fingers were still toying with the edges of her hairline and he purposely lost himself in the task for a while. “I don’t know. Maybe someday.”
She thought he would end it there, but he was surprising her a lot today.
“There are a lot of things I need to deal with…a lot I need to change before then.”
“Like what?”
“Well, firstly I’m a dick, incapable of maintaining a relationship. Girls don’t stay with me for very long. Secondly, I’m…I’m fucked up inside…and to bring someone into the shit storm that is my life right now…it just wouldn’t be fair. But…maybe someday I’ll move past it, though I’m not sure when that might be.”
He gave her a short, sad smile and carried on playing with her hair. She was still trying to digest the shock. She didn’t think he would ever talk to her so openly and this new informationcaused her imagination to run wild. She had many theories, but the most prominent one was that there was a girl involved, a girl who had probably cheated on him…with Perry. It was the only theory that explained why he was reluctant to get into a relationshipandwhy he and Perry were no longer friends. It just didn’t answer why he was on his way to Florida, but she was hoping that he was willing to open up to her a bit more.
She waited a minute and gathered enough courage to ask her next question. “Is it…is it because of what happened between you and Perry?” She nervously chewed on her lower lip. “Is that what you need to deal with?”
He froze, his fingers immediately balling into fists. Unlike at the Grand Canyon, he didn’t even consider the option of telling her. The walls she’d been chipping away at for the last hour immediately came up again. He shifted on the bench, letting her know that her head was no longer welcome on his lap. She lifted off him and he stood up, running both hands through his hair before clasping them together at the back of his head. He looked stressed and anxious as he paced up and down a few times, but, more than anything, he looked…hurt. Tears lined his eyes and she didn’t know what to say to make it right, to take them back to the place they were just two minutes ago.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Jasmin…” It came out strained because he was gritting his teeth, grinding them hard against each other. “…from now until we part ways, the topic of…Perry…” The name caught in his throat and he took a few seconds to compose himself, as if saying it broke something inside him. “…the topic of Perry is always…alwaysoff limits.”
He moved swiftly to the other side of the laundromat and, with a trembling hand, he shoved the glass door open and walked out.
THAT NIGHT
Three months ago…
Kevin opened his eyes and waited for his blurred vision to refocus. The smell of burnt rubber hung in the air. His body was stiff from the impact and as he looked around, he noticed that everything was upside down. The car had flipped and was now lying on its roof. He was the only one in there, because despite the fact that he always harped on about it like a nagging mother, he was the only one who ever wore a seatbelt. He needed to find the rest of them. The details were fuzzy, but he remembered the force flinging Perry through the windshield.
There was blood everywhere, but the only pain he felt was a burn down his forearm so it couldn’t have possibly come from him.
He unclipped the seatbelt and allowed his body to collapse against the crumpled roof. The window was broken, so he climbed through, carefully crawling around the shards of shattered glass on the street. Once he was out, he struggled to get to his feet. He was dizzy and disoriented. He looked around, but the only light came from the headlights of Clayton’s car and it didn’t do much to aid his search. A strained groan took his eyes to the back of the car, where he saw Clayton lying in the middle of the road.
“Fuck!”
Kevin immediately raced towards him and as he got closer, the sight he encountered brought him to an abrupt halt. Shock made him freeze for a few seconds. Clayton’s legs were completely mangled from the knees down, jagged pieces of broken bone had ripped straight through his jeans. He droppedto his knees beside Clayton, frantic and panicked. “Oh, God…Clay…Oh, God…I’m gonna…I’m gonna get help.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The screen was cracked but it still worked. His trembling fingers punched in 911 and the rest was a blur. His sentences were broken and unstructured as he spoke to the operator. All he remembered telling her was their location before he hung up again.
“Clay,” he said, shifting around him so he could hook his hands under Clayton’s arms, “I’m gonna try and get you off the road, okay?”
All he got in response was another pain-filled groan.
He didn’t know if it was a good idea to move him, but it was dark and they’d hit something in the road. It could happen to another driver and he wasn’t going to take a risk by leaving Clayton lying there while he searched for Perry and Shandré. He lifted Clayton’s upper body, and very carefully and very slowly, he dragged his body to side of the road.
“Clay.” He tapped his cheek until his eyes fluttered opened. “I need to find Perry and I need you to stay awake, so just focus on something and keep talking.”
