Page 89 of Between Us

She doesn’t say anything for a while, so I focus on the food, not wanting her to have to wait if she’s hungry. After a minute or two, Blake quietly tells me, “I like when you’re there with me.”

“Me too. I’ll meet you next time then.”

She smiles and finally looks like she’s starting to relax. Her eyes are sad, and I can see that the argument with her dad is still weighing on her. I know this is something we have to talk about—and it’d be good for her— it just feels delicate.

“I know from calling them that you share your location with them, but did you let them know you wouldn’t be going home tonight?” Her eyes drift up to mine, so vulnerable, yet more trusting than I’ve ever seen them. “Assuming you wanted to stay here,” I add.

“I do,” she admits, her voice cracking as her face crumples.

“Blake…” I grab a hand towel, about to move toward her when she stops me with a hand in the air.

“It’ll be easier for me to talk like this… if you come over here and hold me, I probably won’t stop crying.”

And for some reason, that makes me feel like I’ve won the lottery. Like I might actually be Blake’s safe place.

“Okay,” I agree. Picking the knife back up and looking down at the cutting board, hoping it offers her a little more space to say what she needs.

“I’ve never fought with my parents—not really. I mean, I threw temper tantrums as a kid, and I’ve talked back to them. But I’ve never truly been mad at my dad… I just feel so silly and adolescent. I’m embarrassed,” she admits.

“Storm Cloud, I know you think I’m like this perfectly nice guy,” I tease, hoping to ease some more of the tension in her body. A small smile pulls at her lips as she rolls her eyes.I’ll take that as a win.“Honestly I’ve had way worse fights with my parents and Maria, over way stupider things than wanting to help people in need.”

“Really? Like what?”

“Almost everything. What time my curfew was, even though the state has a legal curfew. Being a little jerk who wanted a different first car than the one I got for free. Sneaking out and skipping class because it seemed fun. So many things that were selfish and childish.”

“I guess that makes me feel a little better. What I said to my dad…” She looks away in shame. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that. I don’t know if hewill get over that.”

“He already has, Blake,” I promise.

“You don’t know that,” she accuses. She steamrolls on before I can tell her that I do in fact know he has. “I didn’t mean it. I know he cares about people—every person he meets. Even every person he hasn’t met but has heard of, or seen on TV, or listened to on the radio. That’s just who my dad is. So for me to insinuate hedoesn’t?That was fucking mean, Adrian.” She’s working herself up, starting to breathe harder as she does her best to hold the tears back.

I set the knife back down, not moving and respecting her wishes for me to give her physical space.

“It was mean.” I decide not to sugarcoat it. The shock and possible anger takes her attention temporarily away from her guilt. “But it didn’t come from a place of hate or resentment. It came from a place of passion and empathy. And I know your dad understands that.”

“You don—”

“I do,” I cut her off. “I wanted to immediately go after you except your dad told me I should give you space. So, I stayed to talk to him.”

“Was he rude? Did he say anything?” That earlier protectiveness reaches her expression. It makes me want to smile, but I know now isn’t the time.

“Nah, he wasn’t mean. We had a really honest conversation though, and most of it was about why I need to learn to set these boundaries now rather than later.”

Her nose scrunches in a cute, but sad way. “Boundaries with me?”

“No—I mean,kinda, yes. I have a hard time saying no to you because I just want to make you so fucking happy. You aren’t solely the reason I agreed to help in ways I wasn’t fully comfortable with. I didn’t feel good about leaving someone who needed help either.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you to help though. The whole point of asking you was to not involve my dad. And I see now that it was a really stupid plan.”

“It took Tim pointing it out for me to realize the connection. You aren’t fully to blame here, Blake, and I won’t let you take all the responsibility. I’m a grown man, and I’m going to take care of you as much as you want to do the same for me. That’s non-negotiable in this relationship.”

She’s quiet for a long time, like accepting this is hard for her. She isn’t letting her instincts kick in to deny it, so I can offer her all the time she needs. The oven timer goes off, the only thing breaking the silence between us. It isn’t until I set the pan on the counter that she says, “Okay. We both should’ve thought about the possible consequences.”

“And he’s not mad—I promise—but you will have to talk to him.”

“Let me guess,” she utters, although I hear a slight tone of amusement there. “He’s justreally disappointed?”

Smirking over my shoulder, I tell her, “Exactly.”

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