Page 67 of Lucy Loves Him Not
“Gracie reminds me of you.”
“How?” All he’d heard of her so far was a sobbing meltdown or two.
“She seems to think she has to get everything done at once. She’s injured, right? Yet, she’s not crying from the pain or the fall. She’s crying because of her deadlines.”
“And that’s like me, how?”
“You’re always thinking two or three steps ahead. I feel like you and I can be in the middle of a moment, but you’re already assessing the impact in the future. Like when we first met, you weren’t even sure what I was going to do with the festival yet, but you were already trying to save it from me. You, and Gracie it seems, are always racing ahead by miles.”
“Until we go so fast, we fall and break.”
“Neither of you seem easy to break. You might get a little sprain, but you bounce back.” He peered out the rearview mirror. “Since day one, I’ve been kind of amazed by your strength, actually.”
He turned to me for a moment and I smiled at the compliment.
“Itisa little sprain, remember that,” he said, knowing how worried I was for my little sister.
“A little sprain,” I repeated, taking a steadying breath.
“And we’ll be by her side soon.” My heart tripped over thewe’llin his sentence. This summer Adam and I had become a team, a twosome. When we were together like this my shoulders could relax, my breathing was steady, and I felt as strong as he thought I was.
The Walgreens down the street from Gracie’s apartment was our only pit stop. I headed straight to the pharmacy window in the back of the store to pick up her prescription while Adam grabbed a grocery basket and weaved in and out of the aisles. Every few minutes, he’d pop over to me while I waited in the pharmacy line and ask things like, “What’s Gracie’s favorite candy?” and “Does she have any allergies?” At one point, he shouted from an aisle, “Is she good on tissues? You know what? It never hurts to have an extra box.”
I finally got my hands on the prescription and found Adam in the stuffed animal aisle with a teddy bear in his hands. He saw me and held it up with a question in his eyes.
“She’ll love it,” I affirmed. He dropped it into the basket.
“I had a list.” I pulled open my notes app. But, as my eyes scanned the grocery cart, it appeared Adam had grabbed everything on the list already. “Wow, you were efficient.”
He shrugged bashfully. “I wanted to be useful.”
“You’re more than useful. You got me here. You calmed me down.” My voice was strained with emotion. I was finding it harder and harder to hold back. Adam tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I reached up and grabbed his hand, our fingers instinctively intertwining. He found my other hand, too. We didn’t say anything for a moment, facing each other, our hands locked. Early 2000s pop played through the Walgreens speakers.
“I feel like…”Was I about to spill it all in the middle of Walgreens?“I’m finding no matter what it is, I’m happy to have you on my team.”
Adam beamed, whispering, “See? Useful.”
Usefulwas such a small word to communicate how valuable and vital Adam was becoming to me. I bit my lip and shook my head at his comment.
Squeezing his hands I said, “Come on, let’s go check out.” Our hands were still intertwined as we walked to the checkout.
Twenty-Four
Olivia
Do you want to swap out with me tomorrow morning? I can drive up to Gracie’s so you and Adam can come back to Sweet River to work on festival things.
Also tell Gracie I’ll be bringing along fixins to make my world famous grilled cheese
We arrived at Gracie’s apartment complex in the late afternoon. It was a shiny, new complex that must’ve only been built recently. Adam and I jogged up the stairs with plastic bags in tow.
I knocked on the door a couple of times. A friend of hers with a short afro and big, brown eyes answered the door. “Oh good, you must be Lucy!”
“That’s me. Lucy the big sister,” I said and then nodded toward Adam. “This is Adam, my…” an awkward pause before I continued, “colleague?”
“Colleague?” Adam winced before adding, “I’d like to believe I’m so much more than that.”
“Come on in, Lucy and Adam-who’d-like-to-believe-he’s-so-much-more-than-that. I’m Jasmine, by the way.” Jasmine stepped aside so we could walk through the doorway.
