Page 134 of Landon & Shay: Part One

I nodded.

She bit her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay to be going off on your own? I can come with you and wait in the car…”

“Mom. I’m good. I swear.” I understood why she was worried, though. The last few days had been hard. I couldn’t imagine being a parent dealing with a sad child. The blame I would’ve placed on myself would’ve been so heavy. But the truth of the matter was, just having her near was enough to quiet the loudest parts of me sometimes. I was lucky to have Mom at my side.

Though, still, she probably thought the worst of the worst about my mental state.

So, to give her a bit of ease, I shrugged. “But if you drove me, that would be fine, too.”

A small breath slipped through her lips. “Okay, yes. I can do that. Of course.”

She grabbed her keys, and we headed out of the house.

Me:On my way.

The first time I came to the two willows with Shay, it was still wintertime. All of the flowers were now fully bloomed, the trees were covered in vibrant green leaves, and the sun kissed everything around it. Everything looked so alive.

I headed down the pathway toward the two trees and smiled when I saw Shay standing there.

“Hey, Chick.” I grinned.

“Hey, Satan.”

Seconds later, we were in each other’s embrace. I breathed her in, never wanting to let her go. Her head was nestled in my neck, and her gentle breaths brushed against my skin.

I was almost certain I’d spend the rest of my life smiling whenever I was near her. She had a way of pulling them out of me.

We sat right in front of the willows, staring up at people’s love stories, wondering what to make of our own. Truth was, there was still so much to discover about ourselves. About who we were as individuals, and who we were as a couple.

“I’ve read your letter a million times so far,” she explained. “I still cry each time.”

I snickered. “That’s funny, because I’ve read your notebooks a million times, too.” I sat up straighter. “Didn’t cry, because I’m a manly man,” I joked, even though I cried like a fucking baby getting booster shots.

“Mima told me your mom is back in town,” she said.

“Yeah. She’s actually waiting for me in the car right now. She doesn’t let me too far out of her viewpoint anymore.”

“She sounds like a good mama.”

“Only the best.”

I looked up at the two willows as the leaves danced back and forth. I clasped my hands together. “A few years ago, I was on one of those stupid field trips to a farm. I was probably high as a kite, and my mind wasn’t the most stable in the world, but I remember seeing this chicken with a bunch of baby chicks running around with her. They were so little. Pure and beautiful. There was something about them that stood out to me. Something that reminded me of you. The next day at school, I called you Chick, and you hated every second of it, but I loved it, because whenever I called you that nickname, I knew a part of me was calling you pure and beautiful.”

Her cheeks reddened a little as she tilted her head toward me. “Do you know why I called you Satan?” she asked.

“No. Why?”

“Because I thought you were the freaking devil.”

I laughed out loud. “Fair enough.”

“So, what’s the plan? What’s going on with you?”

This was the part of the conversation I was dreading the most. “My mom’s making plans for me to get better treatment. We are going to switch around my medications, too, to see what works best with me.”

“That’s good, Landon. That’s great.”

“Yeah. She even found this amazing therapist that I’m going to start going to maybe. I mean, she’s no Mrs. Levi, but she will do.”

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