“Look.” Bennie grabbed my wrist. “We even found pictures to hang up,” she said, pointing to two silver-framed photos on the wall of Lee, Gary, and me when we were teenagers.
“Wow,” I breathed out. “How long ago were those taken?”
“I think in the middle of senior year. Gary hadn’t gotten his first army crew cut yet.” Lee snickered. “The other one is Coney Island, the summer after Gary and I graduated. See, we were at the bottom of the Wonder Wheel.”
I inched closer to the photos, rubbing my chest to ease the hard pinch.
“I broke out all the photos around the house, which you’ll see when you come back downstairs,” Lee said as my gaze lingered on the photo. “Memories are good, right? Makes a house a home?”
“Yes, it sure does,” I said, catching his hopeful gaze in my periphery.
The photo I couldn’t look away from felt like a lifetime ago and yesterday all at once. I’d hated Ferris wheels, but Gary had wanted to check out the view and had told me to stop being a baby and get on. I’d agreed so he’d shut up, sitting on the edge and clutching on to the railing tighter as the wheel had ascended to the sky. Lee had noticed and stretched his arm out behind me, leaning close enough to reassure and distract me from fearing death. He’d tapped my back with his thumb whenever I’d tensed up.
I laughed to myself when I noticed my face in the photo. My smile was forced and tense, but when we’d rotated back down to the ground, a crushing disappointment had hit me. The view had been beautiful, but not as much as the boy sitting next to me.
“I thought pictures would make it feel more like home for you in here,” Lee said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I know this is only your home for a few months, but after…everything—” he shrugged “—I…well, we, wanted to make your room a little special for you.”
“You did,” I managed to whisper, taking in the space. I barely remembered my old bedroom in the apartment I’d shared with Zach. Not only because I’d ended up needing a quick escape, but I’d never put much thought into decorating beyond what was functional. Visitors would always comment on how it resembled a bachelor pad, but I never had the urge or time to do anything to make it mine.
This room seemed made for me because it was, even if itwas temporary. This beautiful bedroom wasn’t home, but with the easy way my feet seemed to sink into the soft carpet and the joy exuding from Bennie’s eyes as she awaited my reaction, it was the closest I’d come to one in a long time.
It was both a comfort and a flashing danger signal.
“I gave you some of my books so the bookcases didn’t look so empty and sad, and I let you borrow some of my plushies.”
“Not that she’s going to allow you much reading time,” Lee joked from behind me, my eyes still traveling over all the detail they’d put into a bedroom I’d have for less than six months.
“And look what Daddy found,” Bennie said, saving me from having to speak over the impending freefall of tears. “It’s a daisy lamp,” she said, hoisting it up to show me.
My head whipped to Lee, my eyes clouding. It wasn’t an exact replica, but the silver stem and the yellow bulb at the top were close enough to suck the air right out of my lungs.
“I remembered this from your old room too. Well, not exactly this, but the white and yellow offsets all the pink we threw at you,” Lee said with a laugh.
“Oh no, she doesn’t like it.” Bennie’s eyes were wide as she glanced at Lee with panic. “She’s crying.”
“No, it’s not a sad crying,” I explained, swiping my cheeks with the back of my hand. “My dad gave me a daisy lamp just like that one. When I took it with me when I went to college, it broke. Made me really sad, but now that you found me another one, it’s…” I trailed off, my voice cracking when I ran out of air for words. “Thank you,” I managed to whisper when my gaze caught Lee’s.
“Well, that’s a relief,” Bennie said, dragging the back ofher hand across her forehead, drawing out a laugh through the tears I couldn’t stop.
After gearing up to hide my emotions for a whole baseball season, they were leaking out not ten minutes after I came through the door.
“We would have blown up more balloons, but you came too early.”
“But that’s okay,” Lee said, giving Bennie’s ponytail a gentle tug. “Balloons were a last-minute add. Daddy was getting a little winded.”
“Daddy is getting up there in years,” I teased.
“That is for sure.” The corner of his mouth tipped up. “But we wanted to give you a big welcome.”
“And for your welcome dinner, Daddy is making special cheeseburgers, and we bought brownies for dessert.” Bennie clasped her hands under her chin and bounced back and forth. I was going to need a lot of daily caffeine to keep up with her adorable energy.
“Well, you guys did great. This is an awesome welcome.” I crouched in front of her. “Thank you so much.”
She leaped forward, hugging my neck so hard I coughed against her shoulder.
“Bennie is excited to have you here, in case you haven’t noticed.” Lee knelt in front of us. “Why don’t you play for a while, and I’ll help Stella get settled?”
“But you might need my help,” she said, her cute brows knitting together as she loosened her grip.
