Page 26 of All In Good Time
This position had become a comfort for them both.
And it was the only time he couldn’t turn his face away from her, so she used the opportunity to observe every line on his skin.
It’d only been a few days since he disappeared, but they hadn’t been apart for more than a day since January. She missed his eyes, his nose, his hair, his smell.
Her finger swiped over his cheekbone, and a small contented breath loosed from his lips like he knew exactly where he was.
She glanced up, broken from her trance, to see if Marty had come out yet. He hadn’t, and for a moment she worried he didn’t have enough cash. She dropped her hand from Derek’s face and reached into her other pocket for his wallet.
Derek’s wallet was usually bulky with cash and other things he liked to carry around. Now it wasn’t as full. The cash was low, only a little bit left. In one pouch, there were a couple condoms, some gift cards and a credit card in another, but in one sleeve it looked like there wasn’t anything at all.
Just to be sure, Becca reached her finger in and pulled out a single piece of paper.
She didn’t recognize it until she unfolded it, and her heart clenched painfully in her chest at the familiar handwriting across the piece.
Call if you need anything. I can sit quietly and listen or laugh with you. Whatever you need.
He still had it.
She’d assumed that he’d thrown it away long before, but here it was. The pen scratch was faded a bit, and the folds in the paper were thin and worn like they had been opened over and over again.
A knock on her window startled her from the paper. Marty opened her door to hand her a plastic bag.
She slipped the paper back into Derek’s wallet.
“I got some water and an extra bag, in case he pukes. The last thing I want to do is clean up after him too.”
Becca accepted the bag and set it down on the ground in front of her feet. “Thanks.”
He nodded and paused, taking in the sight of Derek resting against her lap as he inserted the gas pump it into the tank.
Becca’s friendship with Derek had been kept entirely separate from Marty, so he never saw them when they were like this. It might look weird to him now, but he might think it was even stranger if he realized that this position was normal for them.
“He doing okay?”
She shrugged. “As far as I can tell.”
“Uh-huh.”
A moment of silence settled between them, luckily interrupted by the sound of the gas pump snapping off.
“Do you need me to drive?” she asked while he began putting the hose back up.
He shook his head. “Just make sure he doesn’t make a mess in my car.”
Becca nodded and they were off. She tried to stay awake on the highway but found it difficult to keep her eyes open anymore. For the past days it had been impossible to get any sleep as she worried about Derek. Now that he was here and safe, the relief became a relaxing pill, and she found herself dozing against the cool window several times.
She awoke fully at a particular turn into Highburg that was familiar enough to make her sense home nearby. Blue and pink twilight had snuck up on her while she was asleep.
Marty caught her eye in the rearview mirror when he saw her sit up and rub her palm against her face.
“I’m assuming that we’re going straight to your place,” he mumbled, like he was conforming to some sense of reverence after she had just woken up.
She yawned, looking out the window at the familiar streets that marked the way back to her house. “Yeah, he can’t go home.”
The turn onto her street was slow, steady. It was good that Marty drove. He always was the better driver. On her lap, she adjusted Derek’s head, trying to get some feeling back into her thighs, which had fallen asleep. He shifted, exhaling, but he still didn’t open his eyes.
“Is your mom home?”
