“ETA is seven hours,” he says and then ends the call.
“You’re leaving,” Aiden says, sounding disappointed.
“It seems Blackbird is ... well, yeah. I have to go.” He shovels in the last of his waffle.
“Twelve hours was not long enough,” Willow says, and the sadness in her voice has me leaning over to kiss her head. “The Three Amigos need more time than that.”
“I know.” He sighs and drinks his juice as he taps on his screen, I assume scheduling a flight back to Washington. “I’m sorry, you guys.”
“I’m grateful that you came at all.” I stand when he does and circle the table so I can hug him.
Once upon a time, I hated his guts. We used to beat the shit out of each other.
I love it here on the ranch more than I thought I would. It’s only been a month, and the summer is close to being over, and I hope with everything in me that we don’t have to go back to hell house.
Because now that we’ve been here, with these people and animals and the clean air, I can’t imagine going anywhere else. I can’t imagine being without them.
We find out tomorrow if we get to stay. I know that Deb and Ray have petitioned the state to keep us here. They’ve been honest with us every day.
And that night, last week, when they asked us if we would like to stay permanently? Well, it felt like I was kicked in the stomach.
But in a good way.
And later that night, I heard Gideon sniffle up in his bunk. And maybe I had a hard time keeping the tears away too.
Because this is more than I ever dreamed of.
I can’t sleep, so I walk outside the bunkhouse to sit on the back porch and listen to the crickets and watch the stars.
But when I get out there, I realize that I’m not alone.
Gideon’s already sitting out here.
“Sorry,” I mumble when he turns to me in surprise. “Didn’t know you were out here.”
“Whatever,” he says, lifting his shoulder. “You can sit if you want.”
It’s been kind of decent to have the ceasefire between us since we both met Willow. She’s a firecracker, and she doesn’t take any of our shit. If we start to fight, she tells us to get over it.
And neither of us wants to disappoint her.
We haven’t thrown a punch since we got here, and that’s gotta be a record of some kind.
“Do you think they’ll let us stay?” Gid asks, his voice quiet in the dark.
“I dunno. I’m not sure how any of that works.” I let out a breath, and we both watch an owl swoop overhead, looking for a midnight snack. “I don’t see why not. No one’s going to come looking for me. My mom’s dead, and I don’t have any other family.”
Gideon’s quiet for a minute. He never says too much. “No one’s coming for me either. Deb and Ray are decent.”
“Yeah.”
“And everyone else seems good too.”
I nod in agreement. “They’re good.”
He glances my way, and I meet his gaze, my brown to his blue. “If they keep us, that will make us brothers.”
I thought of that, too, but I didn’t know if I should say something. “I guess so, yeah.”
