Page 79 of Where the River Meets the Skye

Skye was wiping off the white board after school a few weeks later when he heard a knock on the door. His eyes widened when he turned and saw who it was, a smile spreading across his face.

“Claire,” he said.

“Hi, Mr. Mckenzie.” Claire’s smile lit up her face. “Can I come in?”

“Of course,” Skye said. He couldn’t believe how grown up Claire looked. He hadn’t seen her in several years and she was becoming a young woman now. Her blonde hair fell loosely down her back and over her shoulders and she wore tight jeans with holes in the knees and a T-shirt with a zip up hoodie over top. She was wearing makeup now, light pink lip gloss and dark eyeliner. It suited her.

“How are you?” Skye asked as he sat down and gestured for her to do the same.

“I’m fine,” she said, somewhat shyly. “I’m good, actually.” She blushed a little and smiled more. “I have a girlfriend.”

Skye beamed. “That’s great.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Claire said. “Anyway, I uh, I actually came to talk about you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, word’s kinda been getting around about your husband not feeling well, and I wanted to say how sorry I am,” Claire said, her blue eyes conveying sympathy.

Skye swallowed. “Thank you, Claire,” he said. “That’s very sweet of you.”

“Yeah, well, Gwen and I have been talking, and we were kind of hoping that you would let us set up a Go Fund Me account for you guys. We really want to help, and I don’t think we’re the only ones. But we wanted to run it by you first, of course. My mom said we could do it if we had your permission.”

Skye swallowed again. He was overwhelmed. He couldn’t believe one of his former students was sitting in front of him, expressing sympathy for him and his husband and at the same time offering to set up a way to get them financial assistance. But he didn’t know if he could take it. He was not used to accepting money from people. He felt like taking care of River, of the medical bills and the school debt, was his responsibility, not anyone else's.

“That’s really generous of you guys, but I don’t think?—”

“Come on, Mr. Mckenzie,” Claire interrupted. “We can’t help you at home, or make River feel any better physically, and I don’t cook worth a damn, but we can do this.”

Skye smirked at her. “I understand that, and I really appreciate it, but there’s so many people out there who probably need the money even more than River and I do. I just don’t feel right about taking it.”

“Mr. Mckenzie, we can’t help the other people out there who need the money. We don’t know them. We know you. And we can help you. And you need it. Can you honestly tell me you don’t need it?” Claire eyed him and Skye couldn’t believe how stubborn she’d gotten, or maybe she was just allowing this side of herself to finally show through.

He sighed. “I’ll talk with River about it.”

Claire narrowed her eyes. “Like, you’ll actually talk to him, or you say you’ll talk to him and then you’ll go home and I’ll never hear from you ‘cause that’s your way of avoiding it?”

Skye grinned slightly. “I’ll actually talk to him.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Okay. I’m gonna be back here the day after tomorrow just to make sure. Do your homework.” She pointed a finger at him.

“Yes, ma’am.”

River

A month later, things were looking up slightly. River was still bedridden, but Grace was settled into her new place only ten minutes down the road from them, and Skye and River had decided to take Claire up on her and Gwen’s offer of setting up a Go Fund Me account (even though it still made Skye feel uneasy) and they had been once again overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness of their friends, community and even strangers who had donated to help them. And River had seen the difference it had made. His husband was significantly less stressed, and had the sparkle back in his beautiful green eyes.

They were curled up in bed watching tv when River’s phone rang. When he picked it up he saw that it was Anna, and swiped to answer. Skye continued to run his fingers through River’s hair as he held the phone to his ear, nuzzling a little closer into his husband's side.

“Hey, Anna,” River said.

“Hey. How are you guys?” Her voice was sweet and thoughtful as always.

“Okay. Surviving.”

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