Page 84 of The Serpent King

“I saw Travis’s mom last night,” Dill said.

“How’s she holding up?”

“Not good. She was leaving.”

“Like…leaving leaving?”

“Yeah.”

“But not with Travis’s gross dad.”

“Nope.”

“Wow. Good for her. Did she say where she was going?”

“Nope. And I didn’t ask. I sent Travis’s staff with her.”

“Good.”

Another long silence while the house creaked and popped around them.

“I miss Travis too, Dill. Every day.”

“It’s not just about Travis.”

“I know.”

Dill rolled onto his back and stared up at Lydia. “Stay,” he said softly.

“Okay, but I seriously think you’ll feel better if you get out of bed and let me take you somewhere.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean stay. Please.”

She felt a fist grip her stomach as she understood. “Dill. I—”

“You’re going to say you can’t. But that’s not true. You can. You just won’t.”

Not this. Not now. You promised. I mean, you didn’t promise exactly this. But it was inherent in the promise. She looked him in the eyes. They were glassy and vacant. “I won’t. I won’t because I can’t.”

“You can do anything you want. You could stay.”

“Dill, please don’t. This is not fair. I’m not staying. You leave. Leave like me. Leave like Travis’s mom.”

“I—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. You can’t. But that’s crap. You can. You just won’t.”

“I can’t. I can’t even get out of bed.”

“Come with me. Come to New York. You can sleep on my couch. We’ll find you a job. I’ll hassle you about the Bible and give you guilt trips to make you feel at home.”

“No.” His voice had a bleak resolve to it.

“I’m not going to give up on you.”

Dill rolled back onto his side. She grabbed his arm and gently tried to turn him back toward her. “Dill—”

He threw off her hand. “Just go,” he whispered. “I want to be alone.”