Relief flooded him when she dropped the cloth in the bucket and sat on her heels.
“What do you want, Cujo?”Dark circles framed bloodshot eyes.
“I wanted to see how you are holding up.”And I want to drag you across my lap and hold you, but I know you aren’t ready yet.
“I’m fine.”
Yeah, right.She looked fragile as glass.
Drea stood and walked through the front door he’d left open.He followed, found her sitting on the porch stairs, tossing a pebble between two hands.
“Why are you really here?”she asked.
“I needed to see you.”He snatched the pebble from her and started to sketch using its smooth edge as a pencil on the step between his feet.“I’m sorry about your mom.”
Drea pulled her knees up to her chest.“You didn’t come,” she whispered.“It took hours.And you never came.”
During the drive to her, he’d thought of nothing but those hours.He couldn’t imagine finding his dad dead in their family home.The thought of her alone, with a dead or dying parent, waiting for an ambulance had made him ill with worry.
“Yeah, those texts and calls… I’m sorry.I was a class-A jerk.”He continued to scrape the stone on the concrete step.
They sat in silence for a few moments, and he was thankful for the opportunity to compose his thoughts.
“What happened, Drea?To your mom?”
“She fell trying to reach something.I think she took her line off to stand, she did that sometimes, and the chair went one way while she went the other.The shock of the fall, and the fact she couldn’t reach her line…”
Drea began to sob quietly.
He pulled her tight against him and held her while she cried.“Oh, Shortcake.It sucks, sweetheart.I know.”
He ran his hand down her hair, over her back.
“I don’t know how long she was alone on that floor, Cujo.I should have been there for her.Not working.”Her tears were subsiding.
“You had no choice, Drea.You kept a roof over her head, and fed her, and paid for her medicine.”
“But it’s not the same as holding her hand or spending time with her.I was too angry to do that.You were right about me.What you said to Connor that night.”
“Stop, Drea.You did the best you could.Nobody could blame you.From what I saw of Rosa, she was a handful,” he reassured her.
“Yeah, she was that,” Drea said quietly.“At least I got to speak to her.To tell her I loved her.I hope she knows that.Or knew that.”
“I’m sure she does.I suppose at the end, you want to go with the people you love around you.You were all she had, Drea.You know she was grateful to have you there with her when it mattered.”
He kept his arm around her and continued with his sketch.
“Where were you?”she asked quietly.His stomach dropped at the sadness in her tone.
“I was over at Connor’s helping with a class.Then we went out on our own.It was a glorious sunset.I wish you could have seen it.”Maybe he’d take her for a weekend.
“Did you get my messages?”
Lying would be easy.I left my phone charger at home.No reception.Small, simple lies that would smooth everything over in a heartbeat.But honesty mattered if they were going to build something together.She deserved to know what had gone through his mind so she understood why he sat with her now.
“I got the one about dinner yesterday.I should have replied.But I was running scared.”
“Why?”
