Page 103 of You Had Me At Thirteen

He sits up and rubs his hands down his face. ‘They fucking lied to me, Til.’

‘Who did, baby?’

‘My mum. My dad. Fucking Carla. They kept a massive secret from me, and I don’t know how to deal with it.’

‘They’re worried sick about you. Carla has been trying to call you. Your mum is in the hospital.’

He blinks a few times, before throwing a rock at the ground. ‘Fuck.’ He pulls his knees up and rests his elbows on them before hanging his head and pulling at his hair. ‘Is she okay?’

‘She’s fine. Just resting.’ I know we have some time because Carla messaged to tell me Deb was still stable, and asleep.

‘I can’t see them right now.’ His voice catches in his throat.

‘That’s okay, we can just sit here,’ I say.

Wren drops his leg when I plant myself down next to him, threading my arm through his and resting my head on his shoulder. He presses his cheek to the top of my head, and links his fingers through mine before letting our joined hands rest on his thigh.

If he wants to tell me what happened, then I’ll let him open up when he’s ready. One thing I’ve learnt about him over these last five weeks is that pushing him does nothing but make him close up.

We sit for a while, watching the sun come up over the horizon. Below us, the fog sweeps through the trees, dissipating as the temperature rises.

‘My dad cheated,’ Wren says after a while, his voice cracking before he clears his throat.

‘Jesus, I’m so sorry, Wren.’

‘And they separated about twelve months ago. They didn’t want to tell me until after graduation. I feel like a fucking idiot.’

Pulling back to look at him, I cup his face. ‘You’re not an idiot, trust me.’ I shake my head, recalling all the times I felt the same way when my dad would cheat. ‘My dad was exactly the same, but my mum just kept letting him crawl his way back to her repeatedly. I hated him so much. And he wasn’t a big fan of me either. Some people just aren’t cut out to be parents, you know?’

Wren frowns and kisses my temple. ‘How did you deal with it?’

‘Honestly? I didn’t, not at first. But after the third time, I stopped caring. The only time he gave a shit about me was when I won a race. When he died, I don’t think I shed one tear for him. He wasn’t a father, at least not in the way that counts.’

Wren draws circles on my thigh, his chin on the top of my head. ‘How did he die?’

‘A car accident.’

‘How come you’ve never told me that before?’

I lift a shoulder. ‘I don’t know. I guess I don’t like to talk about him. It’s not like we were close.’

Wren nods, his chin digging into my head. ‘Makes sense. We moved because my dad cheated.’

‘Well,’ I say, tilting my head up to look at him. ‘There’s one good thing that came out of that, though.’ I nudge him in the ribs with my elbow.

‘That’s true,’ he says with a tight smile. ‘I wanted to come straight to you…’ His voice trails off as he stares out into the distance.

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘I don’t know. I’m not used to… you know… this.’ He motions between us. ‘Besides, I didn’t want to burden you as well.’

‘Wren, I’ll always be here for you.’

He searches my face, everything he’s feeling brimming in his beautiful eyes. ‘Promise?’

I cross my heart. ‘Promise.’

Wren sighs, signalling he’s done talking. We sit for another twenty minutes, listening to the bird calls and the breeze rustling through the trees. As the sun warms the forest, the insects come out to play, humming while doing whatever it is insects do.

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