“Good. I see you didn’t claim you didn’t want to do anything unsafe. Do not start a meth lab in the attic.”
“Do we even have an attic?”
“That’s what someone wanting to start a meth lab in the attic would say,” I explain. “I have plenty of money to get you through college. You don’t need toBreaking Badit.”
“I’m not… you’re ridiculous!” He grabs the cookies and then heads for the stairs before hesitating. “Leland?”
“Yeah?”
Waylon’s quiet for a moment. “I… uh…” He hesitates again and I realize that I don’t quite know what to do with this. He really doesn’t need to say anything more because I don’t know how to handle anything more. “I, uh… I really…” He pauses as he seems to mull over what he has to say. “My brother and I struggled a lot… there were so many times when… when we really didn’t know if we’d even have food that day, so… Bennett worked a lot, and I didn’t see him much… things like this… I never got to do any of the fun stuff my classmates got to do,but…” Waylon rubs his face. “It’s not the things we did. Like obviously all of the stuff we did today is awesome… but I was meaning more like… I was very alone… don’t get me wrong, I love my brother, and he did everything he could, but he couldn’t do it all. So I just… never had people and… I don’t know. I was just… it’s stupid. Okay. I’m taking my cookies and leaving.”
I watch him hug the cookies to himself as I realize that I should answer him in some way. But what exactly do I say? I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to comfort people or share emotions or thoughts with them. I know how to take all of my emotions and slam them behind a wall I was never supposed to break down.
After a brief struggle, I manage to say, “I didn’t either.” Waylon stops walking and turns to look at me as I force myself to say more. “You know quite well that my ability to talk about feelings or myself is limited at best… I’m not very fond of it. But I know that loneliness… it’s what led me to make some very horrible choices, like trusting Lucas. Because I felt like I would do anything to avoid that… that doing what he wanted was better than being all alone. I’m just really glad that you didn’t find yourself a Lucas because I’m afraid that if you’d caved and trusted your father…” I hesitate, trying to find the right words. “Waylon, you have a rare skill that people would do a lot to acquire, and they would have done whatever it took to use you. I’m just glad they weren’t given the chance.”
Waylon nods. “Thank you… for making it so they couldn’t and for giving me a home… even if you’re really weird and probably scheming up something ridiculous.”
“That’s my go-to,” I say, glad he’s jumping away from this emotional nonsense and into something lighthearted.
“I know it is. And I’m still scared of it,” he replies, hugging the cookies to himself like they’ll save him from my schemes.“Just… Leland… please remember… I know how to blow up that precious fence of yours.”
I gasp. “You little shit!”
He laughs as he hurries off, so I chase after him.
“I will take you to the fire department and drop your ass off!” I threaten.
Waylon looks back at me as he reaches the stairs. “I’m just saying… if you torture me too much, who knows what I might do!”
“I will torture you andyou will like it!” I threaten.
“I’m not so sure about that,” he says before running up the stairs as fast as he can.
Jackson slides into the doorway to see what’s going on. “Hey.”
“Don’t ‘Hey’ me. You know I can’t handle emotions. And ‘hey’ sounds like you’re ’bout to get all emotional on me.”
“You did good.”
My eyes grow wide. “Oh, don’t give me that shit!”
“Me telling you that you did well isn’t going to hurt you!” he protests.
“It sure does, Jackson! My skin! It burns!”
“You’re not melting because of kindness!”
“I might be! I’msuffering.”
His eyebrow rises. “Are you? Because from where I’m standing, you look happy that Waylon trusts you so much. He really cares about you, and you really care about him.”
“Shush your sweet face or you’re going in the Sasquatch costume. You hear me?”
That effectively straightens him right up. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now let the dogs in and meet me upstairs.”
“Yes, sir!”
