Page 27 of Lines We Cross
“Uh, well, it’s in the bedroom. Kind of a dresser slash TV cabinet.” I walked past her to show her my bedroom, one of four in this big house.
“This is a big place for one person.”
I opened my bedroom door and stood next to the huge box that supposedly contained everything I needed to make a new cabinet.
“Well, this is where I plan to retire permanently, so made sense to buy a house I could see myself settling down in and having a family, you know?” I spun and opened the window, making a mental note I’d need new windows installed as these looked weathered and were probably drafty in the winter.
Rae had a seat on the wood floor next to the box, looking more comfortable than me in my own bedroom. The huge Cal king bed was already set up, but I didn’t have any sheets yet. I’d be using a sleeping bag until I got settled in.
“You gonna help me or stand by the window all day, Duke?”
The corner of my mouth quirked up. “Oh, so now you call me Duke too?”
She shrugged, that bare shoulder taunting me. “All your friends and fans do, so why not me?”
I came over and had a seat across from her. “I prefer you call me Max actually, like you always have.”
“And I prefer Skylar, but you call me Rae and Gingersnap, so…”
“But I’ve always called you Rae. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” I opened the huge box and took a moment to simply stare at the hundreds of tiny parts waiting for me to figure them out and magically turn them into a piece of furniture.
“Are you the old dog in this analogy?” Rae lifted an eyebrow.
“If the dog collar fits…”
Rae finally laughed, the kind that didn’t sound forced and the heavy feeling that had weighed me down all week finally lifted a bit.
“I’m still mad at you for missing PT this week, but to be honest, I’m tired of being mad at you. So, I’m going to let it go.” Skylar sat up and pulled out a long wood board, examining it. “Just promise me you won’t give up. You have no idea what the future holds, but not doing your PT will make sure you have no chance of playing baseball, even if it’s just a rec softball league or helping the army of kids you intend to have learn the game. You hear what I’m saying?”
I nodded, seeing the wisdom of her argument. “I do. And thank you for saying it. I guess I just needed a week to be pissed off.”
Rae nodded. “I get that. I really do. But time’s up. We’ve got a cabinet to make.”
I picked up the thick instruction manual. “Only sixty-three steps!”
Rae laughed again and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my afternoon.
* * *
“I’m just saying it’s a classic,” I told her, arms crossed over my chest.
She looked up at the ceiling and laughed, her hair a flaming mess across my mattress where we were lying, having just finished watching The Princess Bride. It only took us three hours to set up one dresser, on which my TV currently sat. I didn’t have cable yet, so I’d hooked it up to an old DVD player and found a movie in my boxes.
“I’m not going to argue that. I’m just saying it’s not in the top three funniest movies of all time.”
Rae sat up and grabbed another slice of pizza out of the box we’d almost finished. One new thing I learned about Nickel Bay was the existence of delivery pizza from A Nickel Ain’t a Lot of Dough, nicknamed Dough by the locals. It was delicious. Then again, Rae informed me the owner was Dom Scoricelli, an Italian-born New Yorker who moved to Nickel Bay a few years ago. According to Rae, he had some sordid history about loving and losing a woman and that’s what drove him to the West Coast. I thought maybe she was just sniffing out a romance where there was none, but who knew.
“Listen, as your friend, I gotta say. You need to reevaluate your favorite movie.” Watching her devour pizza was both adorable and disconcerting. A man shouldn’t say he was interested in a woman because of the way she ate with gusto, should he?
She chewed her bite thoughtfully and then twisted to make eye contact with me. “Are we, Max?”
I rolled and lifted onto one elbow, my arm brushing her thigh. “Are we what?”
“Friends?” she asked quietly.
I felt like that guy on a gameshow who needed to call a friend or poll the audience for the right answer. That was a trick question. The idea of being friends with Rae appealed to me because I genuinely liked her. I liked her drive, her obvious love for friends and family, and the way she cared about people, even if she was mad at them. But the idea ofonlybeing friends with Rae?
Like a knife to the heart.
