Had she just said what I thought she had?
“I was so upset at first,” Ariana admitted quietly. “Shitty, I know, but I just… I felt like there was no way we’d ever get away from him now. If she had a kid by him.” There it was, that smile again. “But then Georgie was born, and I swear, I’d never felt love like that in my life. My dad took off when I was a kid, so I never expected to have a sibling. I’m glad I do. He’s the best thing in my life.”
I blinked.
I was still stuck on the fact that her stepfather hit her mother.
Apparently, more than once.
“He’s almost five now.” She swallowed, looking at her nails. “I go home whenever I can. Not because I want to be in that house, because if it was up to me, I’d never go back again. But because I need to see him. I need to make sure he’s okay.”
“Fuck, Ari,” I said, and then I was off the bed and on the floor right next to her, wrapping her hand up in mine. “That’s… that’s really heavy.”
She nodded. “I told you, you might not like what you discover.”
“I like everything about you.”
She puffed out a laugh. “Even my toxic family bullshit?”
“Every piece.” I frowned, sweeping a lock of her hair from her face. “He… he’s never hityou, has he?”
Ariana’s gaze slid somewhere behind me. “Not yet. But there was a night with a knife where I got in the way.” She held up her hand, the harsh light of her dorm highlighting the shiny scar across her skin. “That’s how this happened.”
Her answer made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I pulled her into me without thinking, holding her close to my chest as she fisted her hands in the sleeves of her hoodie and hugged me in return.
“Why doesn’t your mom just leave?”
“It’s not that simple,” she said on a sigh. “Though, trust me… I’ve asked her the same question many times.”
“I get it now.”
“Get what?”
I pulled back to look at her. “Why you believe resilience is born within.”
Her smile was soft at the edges, her eyes searching mine. “You called me Ari.”
“I did. Is that okay?”
That smile widened, and she nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good.”
“Can we talk about something else?”
“Anything you want.”
“Well, we should probably be talking about stages of childhood social development…”
“Five minutes,” I said. “Just a little break and we’ll get back to it.”
“Okay, then. Tell me about hockey.”
I leaned back on my palms, but still stayed close enough that my knee touched hers. “It’s all ramping up now. We’ve got regionals soon, then semi-finals. And then…” I shrugged, picking up the pen she’d chewed to bits with a grimace. “Championship game. Milwaukee. Ours for the taking.”
She snatched her pen from my hand with a roll of her eyes. “You sound so sure.”
“I am.” I straightened, leaning toward her across the pile of notes. “Sure enough that I’ll make you a bet right now. If we make it to the championship game, you have to go.”
