I swear, I won’t.
I’m nothing to him, and he’s just a silly crush to me. I know this.I know this.But staring at his lifeless body for those suspended milliseconds that felt like a lifetime all wrapped up in one tiny moment mademe realize just how fragile our existence can be, and I felt like there should’ve been something I wanted to tell him if his spirit was floating away into the ether to never return, and I didn’t know what it was, and it was just—so—so futile andwasted.
I cut a glance at him again as I steer his truck toward the road that leads back to Tickled Pink.
He looks a little like Carter on weed.
But way more attractive than my brother.
Obviously.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“Not your fault.”
It was.
It was entirely my fault for not picking up on the full implication of hisdon’t talk about Hannah at all with her parentsrequest.
That’s exactly what he said.
Or nearabout, right?
It boiled down topretend you’ve never heard her name, and I fucked it up good.
I’m supposed to be excellent with social cues.
“I’ll drop you at home, and then I’ll run out to the store for—”
“Not home.”
“Not home? But—”
“Mother—hypochondriac—not home.”
“If not home, then where—”
“Don’t care. Not home.”
I bite my lower lip.
While I’ve been in Tickled Pink for a couple of months, and I know a few people here and there, I don’t actually know where to take him.
Especially given that I don’t want to let him out of my sight.
Not while he needs to be monitored so closely.
I could take him to the school, but odds are high Lola would be there, and I willnotsurvive if he decides she’s a better caregiver than I am.
Teague’s place is out. He lives in a tiny house in a tree, and there’s barely enough room for him and Phoebe, much less the rest of us. I went to visit one time while Bridget was there, and even with the four of us spread across two different floors of the tree house, I felt so claustrophobic I had to leave after like ten minutes.
I don’t know the rest of Dylan’s poker friends well enough to randomly call and ask if I can camp out at their houses with him while I make sure he’s not going to die. Willie Waynedoesowe me a favor, but I’d like to save it for something else. Phoebe knows everyone in the secret poker group, but there’s no way I’m risking lettingthatsecret slip after already ruining one of Dylan’s secrets today. Also, while she’s been getting friendly with all the people in Tickled Pink, I’ve been doing the bare minimum as far as helping fix the school so that I could disappear to—
Oh, hell.
No.
But it makes sense.
