“Jimmy and I heard the sliding glass door open, and then Alan and Dean walked into the house, covered from head to toe in mud!”
I put my hand over my mouth. “No.”
“Yeah, right as Mamma came home!” He was laughing then, using his hands to describe the story.
“They were how old?” I had asked, joining in on his laughter.
He had to stop to catch his breath before going on. “I think a year and a half.”
“What’d your Mom do?”
“Oh, she was livid!” He wiped a stray tear. “She made Jimmy and me give them their baths, then scrub the bathroom, and threw the game console in the garbage. She went on and on about how we were supposed to watch them for an hour while she went to the market, and all we did was play video games.” He raised a finger. “But to be fair, we had gotten the console three days before, and that was the first time we had turned it on. We had no idea it would suck us in so badly! We were just so dang lucky Dean and Alan weren’t hurt! Though I know they ate a lot of that mud.”
I was practically snorting.
“Whew,” he said when he had finished laughing. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I’ve never laughed so much in my life.”
Martha’s voice popped in my head.
“When was the last time you laughed so hard you snorted? You’re not truly enjoying your life until the joy is so big it completely crowds out the worry.”
Colton leaned back against the bedframe. “Okay, your turn. What’s a regret you have?”
I blew out a long stream of breath. “I have a lot of regrets,”I admitted. “But I think the biggest one is the way I left Texas. I practically graduated high school and gassed up the car to drive anywhere else.” I picked up his hand and traced my finger over the calluses. “I loved Texas. My dad and I hadsomuch fun here. I think I left to forget about my mom, but I accidentally lost my dad along the way.”
Not nearly as much fun talking about my regrets as it was with Colton’s.
He lifted his hand, using it to pull my cheek to look at him. “I would’ve left too,” he agreed, making me feel a tiny bit better. “You wanted a fresh start; there’s nothing wrong with that.”
After that, we’d lain down to continue talking, and the next thing I knew, it was morning.
I sat up and stretched, feeling more rested than I could’ve imagined possible, despite how late Colton and I had stayed up.
The blankets got pulled down as I moved. I cringed, hoping I didn’t wake Colton. Carefully, I turned and went to pull them back up to his chin when I sawthem.
The green, purple, and blue splotches were climbing up his chest. I gasped.
Colton cracked his eyes open and blinked a few times, still trying to climb into consciousness. “Ally?” He looked at me and tried to see where my gaze was trapped. “Geez, girl, I know you like my abs, but this is an unhealthy obsession.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Colton…”
He winced hard. “Dadgummit,” he groaned. “Holy heavens.”
The pain of the weekend was finally hitting him.
My stomach felt like a rock. I knelt on the bed, leaningover him. “Colton, tell me how to help you.”
His teeth were clenched, and his face was white.
He had either put on a good show the past few days or the toll of the bad ride and then a full day of hard practice was hitting him like a truck. Either way, he was in horrible shape. He rolled his head onto his fists and let out a soft groan. “Um, could you grab some painkillers for me? They’re in the kitchen, should have my name on them.”
I nodded and got up, practically running. I slid the curtain open and didn’t bother closing it. I started throwing open cabinets, not caring what noise I was making.
“Allegra?” Said a sleepy voice.
I yanked a sticky cabinet open and felt my blood go cold.
Dozens of prescriptions stared back at me, their ugly orange color making my ears ring.
