Page 82 of Landon & Shay: Part One

“But stay on the line until you fall asleep, too.”

“Okay.”

I yawned once more, my eyes feeling heavy. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

I didn’t know if he was a boy who broke his promises, but I was hoping he wasn’t.

As I was falling asleep, I gently spoke. “You could be an actor, Land. You know that, right? You’re so good at it. You could be the greatest actor in the world.”

“That’s sleepiness talking. You’re delusional.” He yawned next.Perfect.“Good night, Chicken. I hate you.”

He’d called me Chicken, and I hadn’t known I could love a nickname that grew from hate. “I hate you, too, Satan.”

“Yeah, but I hate you the most.”

21

Landon

Shay fell asleep before me,but I kept my promise to her and stayed on the phone until I was sleeping too—and I actually did fall asleep. I wasn’t sure if it was the sound of her breathing or the fact that I had a feeling she’d somehow find out if I did hang up on her, but I slept.

I went to sleep with the moon and woke to the sun.

I woke up refreshed, which was something I hadn’t done in such a long, long time.

When the doorbell rang that afternoon, I hurried downstairs to answer it, knowing it could only be one person. I swung the door open and there Maria was, sporting her classic Maria smile.

“Afternoon, Landon.” She grinned ear to ear, walking in with a food dish in her hand. Meatloaf—at least it smelled like meatloaf. She handed it over to me and eyed me up and down. “You look well-rested—that’s good. You slept.”

“Yeah, I did.”Thanks to your granddaughter and her magic powers over me.“The place isn’t that messy today, if you want to just hang out and watch television or something.”

“I don’t get paid to watch television, Landon Scott.”

I wasn’t certain she was getting paid at all.

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” I smirked, nudging her in the side. “Plus, I made your favorite cookies—oatmeal raisin with pecans.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You baked for me?”

“Yeah. So, what do you say? How about a day off?”

She darted her eyes away from me, and I figured it was to hide her emotions. Maria was far too proud to ever show her struggles, and I knew this. So, I wasn’t going to push her into opening up to me. I planned to make her day as comfortable as I could, bringing her a little bit of joy during a crappy season of her life.

“You won’t tell your parents?” she asked, her voice low with concern.

“I won’t. We can hang out in the living room and watch TV. I have the DVDs ofFriends.”

“I’ve never seen that show,” she admitted.

What was with Shay’s family and not seeing great entertainment?

“Well, today’s your lucky day. Come on.”

We sat in the living room all day watching episode after episode ofFriends. Every now and then Maria would laugh at the show, but most of the time she shook her head and grumbled, “Dios mío!” with annoyance at the characters.

She didn’t even make us eat at the dining room table for dinner. We ate the meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and one too many cookies with ice cream on the coffee table as we watched.

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