I shuffle over. As I climb in, her arm opens up in a classic mom move. I hesitate only for a second before leaning into her.
“It wasn’t a date,” I say. “At least, not with Dev.”
Maybe it’s the lull of her breathing, or the orange blossom scent that reminds me of Mom, but I spill, starting with the scene outside Madam’s Hardware.
Gia is an amazing listener. Mostly, she hums her acknowledgement every so often to let me know she’s listening.
“Up until you asked for the check,” she says, “you and Sawyer were still holding hands? And this all happened after you guys dry humped on the sidewalk?—”
“Those were Dev’s words. There was no . . .grinding.”
She says nothing, and I can’t take the silence.
“There was no genital-to-genital touching!”
Gia’s laugh bubbles out, and it vibrates happily against my back. “Too bad, that’s the best kind of touching.”
“Not when Sawyer’s involved.”
“Do you need to see Dr. Levine?” she asks, referring to the optometrist in town. “Especiallywhen Sawyer is involved.”
Ew.
I say, “Ew.”
She twists to meet my eyes. “Those Strong boys might have their heads up their asses, but there’s noewwhen it comes to how they look.” Relaxing back again, she adds, “Besides, Lizzie loves him, and she has great judgment.”
Kids usually do.Kids go out of their way just to high-five him.In summarizing my night to Gia, I conveniently left out how, without meaning to, I let my guard down whenHarvest attacked him for “working at the elementary school” and lost it on her. But that had nothing to do with Sawyer in particular. I hate when people look down on educators in general, as if we aren’t critically important to the success of future generations.
I feel Gia shrug behind me. “He’s the best of all of them as far as I can tell.”
He’s definitely the lesser of two evils when the ex-mayor is concerned. Sawyer’s dad was a piece of work, a real snake of a politician.
“Will doesn’t seem so bad,” I say. I never really interacted with Sawyer’s older brother much, but by all appearances heseemsokay. For a Strong.
Gia scoffs, and it’s the most emotion she’s ever displayed. “You ever seeHamilton?”
“Uh, yeah,” not sure where she’s going with this.
“Will is Aaron Burr. He doesn’t let anyone know what he’s against or what he’s for. He’ll play any angle as long as it gets him what he wants.”
This sounds oddly personal.
“Anyway,” she says, “we’re getting off-topic. After you and Sawyerdidn’tdry hump, butdidhold hands, you blew up on each other over a trip down memory lane.”
I didn’t go into the specifics of the colored pencils incident with Gia. She has no idea how bad things were for me after she left for college, and I never want her to feel guilty for leaving. But she was a witness to some of the more minor teasing I endured at the hands of Sawyer and his friends.
“Pretty much,” I say. “It just reminded me of all the reasons I can’t trust him. Basically all my bad memories from school are because of him.”
“You know, Sawyerwasthe one who took you to the nurse that day,” she says.
I pivot to see if she’s serious, mouth agape. I still remember her picking me up after school, two baby teeth clutched in my palm.
“And,” she continues before I can process or ask questions, “it sounds like he didn’t do anything wrong tonight.”
What!I’m speechless.
“If anything,” she says, “he saved you from embarrassment. For all Dev knows, you intended tonight to be a double date all along.”
