The moms of the football players decided to stock the kitchen for when Dean and Jake got home. Some of them made food and some bought it. The cupboards are stocked and the fridge is full of meals that are ready to eat. Danny's mom came up with the idea and got the other moms involved. Even Eve's mom pitched in. She likes to bake so she brought over cookies and brownies. I didn't bother asking my mom for anything. We've barely talked this week. She knows I'm mad at her so we've been avoiding each other.
"Who made the food?" Dean asks.
"All the moms," Danny says. He opens a cupboard. "They bought stuff too."
Jake's jaw drops when he sees all the food in the cupboard. "We've never had this much stuff!"
"He'll have it gone in a week," Dean kids.
"We fixed the cabinet doors," Danny says. "And the back door. Josh's dad and uncle came over and did all the construction stuff. They fixed the walls too."
Dean eyes snap to the walls in the living room that used to be full of dents and holes from his dad's out of control temper. Dean told me one of the holes came from his dad throwing his mom against the wall. He pointed it out to me, then said he never told anyone but me how it got there. Everyone else, including Jake, thinks it came from Dean throwing a football in the house.
"They're gone," Dean whispers as he walks to the living room to inspect the walls.
"Let's go check out your room," Danny says to Jake. "We cleaned it up and painted the walls."
They go in there while I walk over to Dean. "You okay?"
His eyes are wet again. "They're finally gone. I fucking hated these walls. Every time I came home I'd see those fucking walls and remember what he did to her. That one right there." He points to where the hole used to be, the one caused by his dad throwing his mom against the wall. "I hated that one the most."
"I know." I slip my arm around his.
He takes a deep breath, then lets it out. "Fuck. I don't usually get like this."
"Like what?"
"Getting all emotional. Maybe it's the drugs they've got me on."
I come around to face him. "Or maybe it's because you're finally starting to understand how much people care about you."
He blinks a few times, trying to keep the tears from falling.
“Dean, I wish you could've seen how many people showed up at the hospital when they found out what happened to you. All the guys on the team. The cheerleaders. Your coach. The waiting room was so packed people had to stand in the halls. You weren't even awake but everyone wanted to be there. And when Danny asked the guys to help with the house, not a single one of them said no. They wanted to help. They worked all day on Sunday because they wanted to do this for you and Jake."
Dean’s neck moves as he swallows, then he takes another deep breath. I feel like I should give him a minute alone to process his thoughts. I turn to head to the bedroom but he stops me.
"Come here." He pulls on my hand, still balancing on his crutches.
I wrap my arms around him and rest my head on his chest.
"I don't know what I did to deserve you," he says, holding me the best he can with the crutches.
"You let me be me," I whisper, more to myself than to him. Before I met Dean, I thought I had to be whatever a guy wanted me to be. It's what I saw growing up. I watched my mom do whatever my dad told her. She dressed for him. Did her hair the way he liked. Wore the perfume he picked out for her. Now she's doing all that again for this new guy. That would've been me if I'd stayed with Chad. It's all I ever would've known.
Jake runs up to us. "Dean, you gotta see our room! They painted the walls blue and we have blinds on the windows!"
The window had a towel covering it before so we replaced it with blinds after we painted the walls. Jake's favorite color is blue so I picked out a blue paint for his room.
I pull away from Dean. "Go check it out."
He walks in there. "Looks really good. I like the blue."
We all go in there with him.
"You can have the bed," Jake says, sitting down on it. "I want the couch."
"You want to sleep on the couch?" Dean asks, surprised.
