Theresa attempted a smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Sky sent me. He found me a flight out of Ohio at four-thirty this morning.”
“Why?” Trevor asked, flinching when he heard how rude the single syllable sounded. But he was confused. He’d been having trouble keeping up with things.
Theresa’s smile was sad now, gentle. “I considered your mom a friend, you know. She was an incredible woman, and I’d like to pay my respects. But mostly I’m here to take care of you, sweetie.”
That was it. Trevor couldn’t hold himself together anymore. The tears poured out of him so fast it was like a dam bursting, and suddenly he found himself sobbing in her arms. He clutched at the sleeves of her jacket and let himself go as she did the work of keeping him in one piece.
Eventually they moved into the house. Theresa sat him on the couch and draped a blanket over him before telling him she was going to make him some tea. By the time he thought to tell her where his mom had kept the tea bags, she’d already walked away. He heard her opening and closing cabinets as he dug his phone out of his pocket and called Skyler.
It didn’t even ring once before Skyler answered. “Are you okay? Can I do anything? How are you?”
“I’m… here. At my mom’s house. I’m making arrangements.” None of that answered any of Skyler’s questions, but it was all he could manage.
“Okay, what can I do for you?” Skyler asked again. “I know I’m not there, but I can call places.”
“Sky.”
“What?”
“Thank you. For sending your mom. I don’t know what I…” He trailed off, unable to finish that thought.
Skyler was silent a few moments on the other end, and then he said slowly, carefully, “I know no one could ever replace your mom. But I want you to remember that my mom’s your mom too. Always. She’s your mom too.”
Trevor sniffled, trying his best not to start crying again. But when Theresa walked back into the room and passed him a steaming mug of tea, he couldn’t help it.
It was softer this time. The cries didn’t wrack his entire body. Theresa took the mug from him and set it on the coffee table. Then she tucked the blanket around him properly and sat beside him, putting an arm around his back and encouraging him to rest his head on her shoulder.
He was in a warm cocoon, with Theresa against him and Skyler in his ear. He wasn’t alone.
A week. They gavehim a week off to mourn his mom’s death, and now Trevor was supposed to magically get over it and get back to performing. He’d missed three shows and Maggie insisted he couldn’t miss anymore.
Honestly, though, maybe it was better to be back here on tour with the band, rather than sitting alone in his mom’s house. Not that he was actually alone. Theresa had stayed with him the whole time. But after the funeral, there wasn’t much left for him to do there.
All the guys had been great, hugging him and telling him they were there if he needed to talk. But he didn’t have anything to say. He was numb. And that was okay. That was how he’d get through this.
“Maggie said you can skip the interview tomorrow morning, but you have to go to sound check.”
He looked up and found Skyler hovering beside the bed. It took his brain an extra moment to make the connection that Skyler was talking to him. “Okay.”
Skyler leaned down, brushing the hair off Trevor’s forehead before pressing a kiss there. “It’s still early. Do you want to hang out with the guys for a bit? Or we could stay here and talk? I could give you a massage. Or you could take a bath or—”
“No.”
“To which one?” Skyler asked, brow wrinkling in concern. He’d been doing that ever since Trevor got back, and it was starting to annoy him.
“All of it,” he said. “I don’t feel like hanging with the guys, and I don’t need to talk. And I don’t want a bath like I’m three. I’m fine.”
Skyler sat on the edge of the bed, forcing Trevor to scoot over to make room for him. “You don’t have to be fine. You can talk to me.”
He knew he could. But he didn’t want to. Talking would lead to thinking, which would lead to feeling, which would lead to crying, which would lead to falling apart. He had a job to do here. He couldn’t fall apart.
And he wanted Skyler to treat him normally so he could forget about the pain. Push it to the back of his mind where he could deal with it someday in the future when he had the time and space.
So he looked at Skyler and said, “Fuck me.”
Skyler’s eyes widened. “What? No.”
“No?”
