Page 108 of Traces Of You
“Do you think I’ve ever had anyone other than you or your mother tell me positive things in my life? Ford, you’re asking me to think, act, and believe things I’ve rarely experienced. That’s a lot for anyone. Half the time I’m flying by the seat of my pants and just lucky I’m not getting a road rash on my butt cheeks.”
He grinned. “You’re doing a great job at staying blister free.”
“I am. I’m proud of myself for how I can get through situations. I know most people would scuff it off or turn their nose, but for me, it’s all I’ve got. No one has lived in my shoes. No one has had to grow up not knowing when they were goingto get a cuff to the side of the head. And trust me when I tell you that was the least of the things I worried about happening.”
They’d never had these conversations before.
“Why haven’t you ever said anything? Why not back then and why not now?”
“Because it’s difficult to tell anyone when you don’t trust them. And back then, I knew if people asked enough questions, my mother would pick up and move. Do you honestly think that in all the years I was in school someone didn’t question things?”
“I hoped someone had.”
“They did. And we’d be gone shortly after. I didn’t want to leave here. I wasn’t about to doanythingthat would expedite it.”
“I wish I’d known that. My parents would have done something.”
She threw her hands up. “What, Ford? What were they going to do? Take me in? Challenge my mother and become my guardians? Even though the courts usually side with the birth parent? Do you know how long it takes for those things to happen? In that time, I’d be gone.”
He knew that now, but hadn’t back then.
“You had no one you could go to? No family? Your father. You’ve never said.”
“No one,” she said. “My mother was on the move all the time. Different guys in different cities and states. I’ve lost count of the places I’ve lived. I didn’t do that great of a job myself as an adult either, but not like she’d done. I got away but then saddled myself up with losers that always dragged me back down to what I was trying to escape. As for my father, no clue. His name isn’t on my birth certificate, but I was born in Boston.”
“You have a family now, Reenie,” he said. “Me and my family. You know that, right?”
“I do.”
At least she didn’t hesitate to acknowledge that.
“Don’t forget it either. I mean that. We are going to get through this. Until then, I’m staying with you.”
Her nose twitched up several times. She was fighting the urge to argue.
“Do you think that is necessary?”
“Necessary or not, I think everyone will feel more comfortable.”
“You won’t be comfortable in that bed,” she said.
“No, but I’ve slept in worse. I thought about having you stay at my place, but you’d be alone for several hours a day. It’s better with you here.”
“Clay told you that,” she said, pointing her finger. “Right?”
Any other time he’d be happy that she knew him well enough to guess that. “Yes. So yeah, our choice is your cabin, or you stay with Clay.”
“No!”
He laughed at how quickly she’d denied that option.
“I figured. He wasn’t that bad, was he?”
“He barely speaks and when he does, it’s short and to the point. I appreciate more than anything what he’s done and gone out of his way to do. I know I’m an inconvenience.”
“You’re not.”
“I am,” she argued. “But he honored my wanting some time to think last night and for that I’m thankful.”
