If I want to keep an eye on Dylanandget my work done so I can send Naomi the truffles she needsandhide him from Lola for a little longerandhonor his request that I not take him home, then my secret kitchen is my best bet.
It’s in the basement of a closed-up church.
Surely, Dylan won’t die of a concussion if he’s in a former house of God.
There have to be some good spiritual wavelengths still hanging out in there, right?
The only question is how to sneak him in.
I’m usually ducking in after dark or before the sun’s up. Never in broad daylight, and never dressed like the public version of me. Not if I can help it.
“Won’t your mom hear that you were at the hospital?” I ask him. “Isn’t Tickled Pink, like, gossip central?”
“I told Shiloh and Willie Wayne to squash it.”
“You can control the gossip chain?”
“Mmph.”
“Don’t fall asleep! Not yet. Let me get you somewhere comfy first.”
Pebbles whimpers at Dylan’s feet.
His phone rings for like the eighty millionth time. It’s definitely getting a workout.
“Do you need me to smooth things over with Hannah?” I ask. “I can do that. And I won’t fuck it up this time. Cross my heart.”
“I got it.”
“I’m really, really sorry. And I don’t say those words if I don’t mean them. It’s a Lightly thing.”
“It’s okay.”
No, it’s not.
It’s really not.
But me repeating myself won’t change anything, so I oblige his request and stop talking.
For a couple of minutes, anyway.
“Why do people even want to get married?” I ask the silence. I don’t want to pester him about his past, but I can’t stand the silence, and it’s the first thing that comes to mind.
He sighs. “Some people do it right.”
“But, like,canyou get it right if you grew up with ... never mind.”
“Grew up with what?”
I gave him a concussion. I already blew one of his secrets, and he saw me chowing on a pulled-pork sandwich when no one else recognized me.
He could destroy me, and it would be the final blow to everything I’ve wanted in life.
And I wouldn’t blame him.
But I feel like I owe him, and I don’t owe him tearing apart the people he loves.
So I don’t finish what I was going to say.Can you get it right if you grew up with an example like Marta and Ken?
