Page 53 of You're the Reason

“The first time? Eleven.” He dropped her fingers and leaned back, stretching his arms across the bench seat. “Gabe found me shivering on your guys’ back porch and snuck me into your basement and then found me some dinner.”

“He should’ve told our parents.”

“Probably.” Seth drew a slow calming breath, the night still so clear in his mind. “I begged him not to. I knew my mom was upset about my dad’s death, and I didn’t want to make things worse. Looking back, they would’ve just moved me to my aunt and uncle’s. So, I missed out there.”

“How did your other family not know? Why didn’t anyone step in?” Between the indignancy in her voice and the way she gripped the bench seat, she seemed more upset about this than her audition.

“I think they tried.” He leaned forward again, lowering his voice to a calming tone. “They would ask me so many questions, trying to get me to open up, but I think you underestimate how far kids will go to protect their parents. Secrets were the comfortable place I lived in, and I refused to let anyone see what I didn’t want them to see. Gabe was the only one who knew.”

“I don’t get it. The Mrs. Warner you’re describing and the one I remember don’t line up in my mind.” Grace closed her eyes a moment. “I didn’t know her well, but I just have this memory of her standing on the porch in a pink flowery dress with her thick brown hair pulled back on the sides calling you home for dinner. She was always smiling and so beautiful.”

“She was beautiful, that’s true, but the smile was a show. Where do you think I learned to keep secrets?”

“Was? Did she?—”

“No. She’s alive. But years of drug and alcohol abuse stole her beauty. She held it somewhat together in public for years. But when my aunt and uncle died my junior year of high school, she really hit rock bottom. But by then, I was so caught up in my own life choices, I barely noticed. We lost touch for a little while. But she reconnected with me when I was in college. As soon as she thought I had money, she was back.”

“Did you live in our basement long?” She reached for his fingers again. She probably meant it as a comforting gesture, but every movement, every touch traveled the length of his fingers to his arms. He could barely focus on her words.

He looked up and found her waiting. Right, she’d asked a question. He leaned back, letting her hand fall away. “Um, no, we knew if we kept it up, your parents were going to find me. So we found a way to break into those old houses that used to be on the square. I pretty much lived there on and off and saved your basement for the very cold nights. But Gabe got me food, most nights. Sometimes I even found bags of groceries on the steps to my house. He literally kept me from starving.”

“I am so sorry.” Tears clung to her eyes. And something hit him square in the chest. Those tears were for him. He couldn’t remember a time when someone had cared enough to cry for him.

“It’s all right, I’m not that thrown-away kid anymore.” Their eyes locked and held. There was something so raw and open in her expression. And for the first time in a long time, he didn’t want to offer easy-out answers or avoid the hard questions.

He wanted her to see him. Really see him. The good parts and the really painful parts.

His gaze traveled across the water that disappeared into the horizon. They had just passed the highest point of the wheel. They were beginning their descent. If he didn’t do this now, open up now, he might never do it.

He bent down and pulled her foot onto his lap and traced the faint white scar that circled around her ankle with his thumb. “I lied a minute ago. Asking you out wasn’t on a whim, it wasn’t no-big-deal, and it had absolutely nothing to do with your brother. I pretty much had a crush on you from the day you fell off your bike and got this scar. But we were young, and my life was a mess.”

He shrugged, letting his thumb trail once more over her ankle, then lowered her foot back to the floor. “I only gathered the courage that day because I figured it was then or never. Turned out to be never. I know—” His phone vibrated from his pocket, breaking his line of thought. “One second.”

He pulled it out and scanned the text from his mother.

MOM

Where were you today? Need food. Maybe I’ll come find you.

Since moving to Heritage, he shifted from going on Saturdays to Sundays. But his mom had a hard time keeping track of the days of the week—or the past month. But if she was reaching out to him already under the pretense of food, she was desperate for money. The last thing he needed was for her to wander into Heritage looking for him, and she knew that. So was she really threatening, or just saying that to get him to act? It didn’t matter, he wasn’t willing to take the chance. He sent off a quick text in return.

SETH

I’ll drop off some food, but it’ll be a while. In Chicago.

He slid the phone back into his pocket. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to call it a day. I have to get you home, then take my mom some groceries.”

“Where does she live now?”

“Muskegon Heights.”

“That’s on our way back. Why don’t we stop on the way?”

Was she kidding? “You know it has a higher crime rate than Detroit, right?”

“It’s not like we’re moving in there. And you’ll be driving back there tonight anyway. Which would put you there over an hour later. Wouldn’t it be better for you to be there earlier?”

Like crime only happened at night. “No.”

---