Mae needed friends like Vik.
She wasn’t admitting it to herself. But she probably needed Portland, too.
“I’ll take you,” he said.
Mae blinked. Something in her face softened, her shoulders sinking.
“You’ll…go to Portland with me?”
“Yeah.” Dell scratched his beard again. “You can use my truck, but only if I’m driving it.”
Mae looked at him, eyes inscrutable.
“You don’t have to do that, Dell.” Her voice had turned too gentle, in a way that itched underneath his skin. “I know you don’t like going to Portland. It’s okay; I can just take my car. I certainly crammed an impressive amount of stuff in there the first time. I understand if you don’t trust me with the truck.”
Dell did trust her with the truck. Mae was an incredibly competent person.
But…dammit, she hadn’t let him help her yesterday. It was still hard to swallow, that while he’d been sipping coffee with Luca twenty miles north, Liv and Olive had been cleaning up the mess some asshole had made for Mae. On any other day, Dell would’ve already been here. Maybe he would have been able to fix it before Mae had even seen it. He could not believe he didn’t already have security cameras installed on the building.
He could at least help her with this.
“It’s fine,” he said. “I can handle Portland for a day. I’d like to help. Unless…” He swallowed, unease finally sliding through his bluster, shame hiding behind that unease. “Unless you were planning a longer trip.”
Mae broke her stare, stealing a glance at the front window.
“Honestly, part of me was hoping I could hide away until the glass is replaced, so I don’t have to keep staring at that plywood, but…realistically, I was planning on staying just a couple days, to get my stuff and see my friends. Thought I’d head back here Saturday morning. If…that would be okay with you?”
Her eyes flitted back to Dell’s. And even if the idea of spending two days in Portland made his stomach tight, he saw it then, in the gleam of her eyes, the twitch in the corner of her mouth. She looked…hopeful. Like shewantedhim to come.
And goddammit. Hell and tarnation. Dell was lost with that.
“Yeah,” he said. “That’d be okay with me.”
sixteen
Mae had been planningon driving back to Portland with Vik, but they turned the tables on her the next morning. Like a tricky bitch.
“You two should drive together,” Vik said, just as Dell returned to the gravel drive with some tarps in hand for the truck bed, the dogs in tow. Vik crouched down to throw their arms around Nash’s neck, smiling as he licked their chin. Mae wasn’t surprised that Vik had fallen in love with the dogs, especially Nash, when they finally returned to Dell’s house late yesterday afternoon. Dell had been on his deck with his guitar; the whole pack had bounded over the moment Mae and Vik stepped out of the car. The light had been just perfect, the sun low in the sky, the air cool but with enough warmth lingering inside of it to make you want to slow down, look up, hold on. A perfect October day on the mid-Oregon Coast. And as Vik had tussled with the dogs in the grass while Dell looked on, guitar resting on his casually bent knee, Mae had wanted to hold on forever.
“I’m going to stop on the way back to get a hike in,” Vik said now, squinting up at Mae in the morning sunshine as Young pranced around them. “And I know how you feel about hiking.”
Mae pouted. “Yeah. It’s hard.” She thought she heard Dell snort behind her. “Makes sense, though,” she said, still pouting. “It’s a beautiful day.”
“Yeah, and even if it wasn’t, Ben and Alexei are apparently planning to hike part of the Continental Divide next summer and they have beensuperirritating about it.” Vik stood with a huff. “Constantly going on hikes to ‘prepare’ and it’s like, we get it! You’re fit and outdoorsy and have adventures all the time!” They crossed their arms and scowled into the distance. “I want to be fit and outdoorsy and have adventures all the time,” they said in a smaller voice, and Mae patted their shoulder.
“I know, babe. I know.”
“Anyway.” Vik brightened, leaning down to give Nash’s head one last pat. Vik and Jackson had adopted a sweet old pittie a few years back, but she’d passed away last year. While they hadn’t been able to bring themselves to get another yet, Mae could see in Vik’s eyes that Nash might have nudged that healing along. “I’m gonna miss these fuckers.”
“They’ll be here,” Dell said. “Anytime you want to visit.”
Mae flashed Dell a grateful smile.
“CSNY.” Vik shook their head with a small laugh. “I reserve the right to change my mind at any time, but I think I might like you, Dell. Still.” They lifted their chin in his direction. “You take care of this one while you’re driving or we’ll all kill you.”
Dell nodded. “Will do.”
“Okay then.” Vik’s face broke into a smile again. They’d been especially smiley, this trip. It healed something in Mae she hadn’t known she’d needed. “See you two back in PDX.”
