Page 21 of Stay for Me
“It sounds like it, but it won’t happen here. It’s another thing that I have to give up.”
“Why did they cancel it?” I ask. If I remember Mrs. Finnegan is still the drama school teacher for both the middle and the high school. She’s . . . beyond passionate about the theater and was always up our asses about auditioning, but since I was much too cool back in the day, I brushed it off.
“Mrs. Finnegan fell and broke her leg. She needed surgery, and there’s no other teacher that will fill in.”
“That sucks.”
He nods and adjusts his line. “I wish you could help. You’re a real-life actor who could probably direct the play better than Mrs. Finnegan or anyone else in the world ever could. It would be so cool, and it would make so many of us ‘drama geeks’ really happy.”
Oh shit. How the hell do I extricate myself from this? I got this pretty awesome kid who loves drama, just lost his dad, and was forced to move, and this would make things better for him. I really don’t have a good reason to say no. I’m not doing shit for the next few months anyway.
“Well, how about we see if I can help?”
“Are you for real?” Sebastian asks.
“Absolutely.”
Chapter Six
Brenna
“Ihope it’s okay that I stopped by,” Devney says from the doorway.
“Of course, it is, but didn’t you just get home from your wedding today?”
What is it with this family and stopping by after the airport?
“Yes, but . . . I needed a break from the house. Sean is unpacking while on the phone with his agent. Austin is grumbling about schoolwork he missed, and I wanted to return this.” She holds out the casserole dish that I gave Jacob.
“Thank you. Would you like to come in?”
She looks over my shoulder and into the house, and I see the hesitation in her eyes. This was her brother’s house, and I suddenly feel guilty for suggesting it. Before I can speak, Devney smiles and nods. “I’d like that very much.”
We go inside, and her smile widens. “Wow, you did so much to it already. It looks amazing.”
“It’s just a bit of paint.”
She turns, her eyes are a little watery. “It’s beautiful, and I’m really happy to see it.”
I release a heavy sigh. I understand grief so much. “It hasn’t been too long since you lost them.”
Devney shakes her head. “Some days, it feels like years.”
I nod. “And others like it was just yesterday.”
She wipes at her tears and laughs a little. “I’m sorry, I’m not normally overly emotional, but . . . I found out while we were on our honeymoon that I’m pregnant, and . . . well, I keep crying.”
“Oh! Congratulations!”
“Do you know that you’re the first person I’ve told?” Devney asks with amusement. “I haven’t said a word about it to anyone, and here I am, blurting it out. I almost wonder if it’s not because I’m . . . because you’re in what was my brother and sister-in-law’s house.” I don’t have to be a psychologist to know that her showing up here was about more than a casserole dish.
She smiles ruefully. “Maybe that is why, although, it wasn’t a conscious reason.”
“Sometimes the unconscious reasons drive us more than we’d like to admit.”
“Spoken like a therapist.”
“Guilty as charged.”
