As I sat on the front stoop, clapping my muddy cleats together, Howie stared at me. I put my shoes down and went to pull him out from under the bushes. He’d been under there since the snowstorm when I moved him to be safe. But it was warming up with spring in full bloom, and he needed to enjoy the sunshine with the rest of us.
“Hey,” Ava said. “I thought I heard you out here. Just get back from practice?”
“Yep, so I stink, really bad.”
“I don’t care.”
She came closer, waiting for me to finish pushing the statue into the soft grass along the edge of the lawn. Once I straightened, she put her arms around my neck, kissing me deep. I’d started getting really used to coming home to this.
“Macie made her chicken marsala again,” she said. “I even helped, best I could, anyway.”
She gestured to her wrist, still wrapped up.
“Isn’t your appointment tomorrow?” I asked.
She nodded.
“I’m taking you,” I told her.
“Macie already said she could. I didn’t know if you had practice.”
“I’ll miss it, I’m taking you. It’s at 4:30, right?”
She nodded again. She was finally getting the stitches out. It had been almost two weeks since that terrible night. And we’d been through a lot since then.
We’d grown a lot in our relationship in that short time.
It was still new, we were still new. But we felt strong. It felt like we were on the right track.
“C’mon, I’m starving,” I said as I grabbed her and led her inside.
Ava went right back to helping Macie with dinner. I marched upstairs to get cleaned up. I would not subject anyone to me sitting at the table in my condition.
After a quick shower and some clean clothes, I felt like a brand-new person. As I exited my room, Becca came down her stairs.
“Hey, big guy,” she said. She stopped on the landing between the flights, leaning against the wall. “Got a minute?”
“For you, always. What’s up?”
She gestured to my room and we walked inside.
“Just wanted to check in with you, ya know, with everything going on. Wanted to make sure you’re still focusing on, well,youeven though you’re with Ava now.”
I could only appreciate her concern as I leaned against my desk, contemplating how to explain it to her.
“I mean, you know I love that girl, but you come first, big guy,” she continued.
“Hey, I’m good, Bec, I promise. I’m more than good.” I smiled, hoping she would understand I was telling the truth. “Ava and I started our thing a while ago, before she was willing to tell anyone about us. When we started hanging out, I realized the chaos in my brain quieted, which was the opposite of whatmy therapist said could happen.” I went to my bed and sat next to her. “And then, when Ava wanted to end what we had, yeah, I struggled. But what I learned about myself was I could deal with the stress of it all without turning to booze. I learned so much about myself through all of this. And I came out on the other side of it OK, and I was damn proud.”
She reached out and gripped my forearm, giving it a squeeze.
“Logan,” she said. “That’s truly amazing. Like, freaking awesome. I am so fucking proud of you, dude.” She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me hard.
“Thanks,” I told her.
“And I am happy for the two of you, especially if you’re happy. You guys are so freaking cute together.”
She was already at the door, ready to head downstairs, waiting for me to join her. As we took the stairs together, she looked back at me with a sly grin.
