“How do you become an NICU nurse?” I asked, running my hand along the side of her ribs. She yawned sleepily as her flesh broke out in goosebumps.
“Time and experience. I’ve been an ER nurse for almost a year. I have to prove my worth first. Plus, I’d have to move. The hospital here isn’t equipped to handle NICU babies. They all get transferred to Toronto or Barrie,” sheanswered.
“So you’d leave oneday?”
“I don’t know about that,” she admitted. “I want to say that yes, I would leave here, but I’ve always lived here…and I don’t know how I feel about selling the house. I know there are a lot of bad memories there…but there are a lot of good ones, too. Aiden took his first steps in that house. His growth is measured on the same trim around the same doorway that my mother tracked my brothers and I. And after…Richie, it became my refuge, where I rebuilt ourlives.”
I held her a little closer to me and kissed her forehead. “There’s no rush,” I said. “There’s no expiry date ondreams.”
We talked about our hopes and dreams for a while longer, and I admitted that I was thinking about changing direction with my music. “I think your fans would love it,” she assured me when I confessed my reluctance to shake thingsup.
“I’m worried my fans will hate it and I’ll become irrelevant,” I admitted. “I know money isn’t everything, but growing up without any makes me appreciate itmore.”
“Your garage full of flashy cars suggests otherwise,” Becky pointed out with a playfulgrin.
I chuckled self-deprecatingly and splashed water at her bare legs with my foot. “Smart ass. I save triple what I spend, and if I needed to, I could sell all of those cars and this house and still livecomfortably.”
It should have been weird, sitting there revealing the hidden bits and pieces of ourselves to one another, but it was as natural as breathing. Every little morsel she offered, I ate up, and I laid it all bare for her. Anything she wanted to know, Ianswered.
Around eleven, when she was yawning more than she was talking, I stood up and offered my hand to her, helping her stand. Her arms went around the back of my neck as she gazed up atme.
“I had a lot of fun tonight, Travis,” she said, her eyes sparkling in themoonlight.
“When can I see you again?” I asked, feeling very much like my heart was caught in mythroat.
She thought about it for a few minutes. “Brock and Tessa get home late on Sunday night. She’s got to work at the clinic on Monday, but I’ll invite them over for dinner so I can tell them about us.” She looked a little nervous, butdetermined.
“Did you want to tell them together,or…”
She bit her lip and brought her right shoulder up in half a shrug. “I haven’t decided yet. I really don’t know what would bebetter.”
“Well you let me know,” I told her. “I’ll do it however youwant.”
Becky
Rain peltedagainst the thick glass panes of the living room window the next afternoon. I was sitting on the sofa, leaning forward and contemplating my next move in the rather intense game of Jenga that Aiden and I wereplaying.
It was a dreary day, and Aiden was bummed out about it. He’d wanted to go up to the property for the day, and instead we were stuck inside, exhausting all means of entertainment at an alarming rate. My son could be amused for a little while with Lego and video games, but he preferred beingoutside.
I carefully selected a wooden block, using my index finger and thumb to slowly pull it out. The tower wobbled dangerously, so I slowed my movements, letting it settleagain.
Thunder boomed, startling me, and pieces of the tower fleweverywhere.
“Jenga!” Aiden giggled. I smiled at himindulgently.
“You win this round,” I said as he began to pick up the pieces. I fought a yawn while he setup.
When I returned home from my date with Travis late last night, Braden still wasn’t home. I didn’t get reception at Travis’s house, so I had missed a call from Krista. She left a voice mail, letting me know that Braden’s truck had been parked outside of O’Riley’s forhours.
I’d waited up for him, fearing the worst—that he’d started drinking again. When he finally walked through the front door, I sagged with relief when I realized he wasn’t drunk, but our conversation had done little to ease myconcerns.
He admitted that sometimes, the thirst overwhelmed him. After that, he decided to head to Brock’s cabin for the next few days. He took Hunter with him, at my insistence. I didn’t like the idea of him all alone in the state he wasin.
A new game of Jenga began, but as I expected, it didn’t hold his interest for very long. “I’m bored, can we gosomewhere?”
“It’s raining really badly, Aiden. I’m pretty sure most of the roads are flooded,” I told him. I stood up again, racking my brain. “We could play PieFace.”
“But, you said that was only on special occasions,” Aiden’s face lit up with excitement. Usually, I didn’t volunteer to play that game. It was needlessly messy, and the clean-up was a pain. But Aiden loved it, so I was determined to suck itup.
