Page 38 of Pretty Nightmare

The support.

The love.

The loyalty.

The truth.

He’s not invincible.

He’s not as strong as people think.

He’s just a boy on the end of a dock looking for someone to keep him honest.

“Look.” Adam sighs. We’re all fucking sweaty now. We’re too close. There’s too much heat surrounding us. The sun is blinding and off in the distance we can hear Indie and Maggie squealing as they play their game on the swings. “I know you don’t want to hear it. And… I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’m not sure it’s true anyway. So I’m not gonna say it.” He lifts his head up and looks at me, his chest rising and falling a little too fast. “But I needed those four years.”

“I know you did.”

“You don’t owe me, McKay.”

“I know that too.”

“But if you stay, I promise I won’t ever do it again.”

I nod. “Sounds fair.”

“So… now what?”

“I dunno. I’m open to seeing where this”—my phone buzzes in my pocket—“where this is going.”

“OK. I have a question.”

“Shoot.”

He looks across the lake for a moment. My phone buzzes again, but I ignore it. I have special buzzes for the important people and this buzz isn’t one of them. So it’s probably spam.

“How…” Adam starts, but then he stops. Keeps looking across the lake. Which kinda makes me uncomfortable, because there’s nothing over there. Nothin’ to see here, people. The cottage is gone. “OK, so how attached are you—”

My phone buzzes again. Like whoever it was hung up and tried again.

“Are you gonna get that?”

“No. Just keep going. It’s nobody.”

“OK, so how attached are you to Indie?”

“What do you mean?”

He sighs a little. “Is it her you want?” He looks over at me.

I think about this for a moment. Because it’s not really an easy question to answer.

“It’s that complicated, is it?”

“Well,” I say, “it is a little. I never wanted to sleep with her, Adam. It wasn’t that kind of love. And when she showed up at my house and started pushing, ya know, I gave in. Pretty easily.” Adam grins at me. Shrugs. “But it was never that kind of love. I mean, I love her. I would do anything for her. But she’s not why I’m here, if that’s your question.”

“Yeah. It is.”

“OK. So that’s the answer.”