“I’ve got time.”
“Okay, when I was ten, my mom and stepdad got me the cutest little black lab puppy for Christmas. Being an only child, they figured I could use the company. I decided to name him after my hero, Johnny Cash.” Will shot me a surprised look. “I know, weird hero for ten-year-old, but I loved the songwriting okay? Anyway, the little puppy was quite the escape artist—he tried to jump over the gate and dig under the fence almost every day while I was at school. One day while I was doing my homework at the kitchen table, my mom ran in crying and ran to the phone, dialed my stepfather at work and whispered, Johnny Cash hung himself. I didn’t know if she was talking about the person or the dog. It didn’t matter either way, I fell apart.”
He reached down and grabbed my hand and kissed it; I contemplated pulling away, but I didn’t. I realized we were friends and Will was just being sensitive to my dead-puppy story, so I continued with my hand in his. “Anyway, my mom took the lifeless Johnny Cash to the vet, but it was too late. They basically told us it was our fault because we left the collar on too loose and that’s how the poor little guy hung himself. It took us all awhile to get over it. A few years later, my stepdad brought home little Jackson. I asked if I could name him Johnny Cash, but they told me it wasn’t a good idea, so I named him Jackson after the song that Johnny and June Carter Cash sang.” I looked over at Will, who was smiling sympathetically.
“How old is Jackson?”
“He’s thirteen. He’s been having more episodes; I’m really worried about him.”
“I know, me too.” We both looked over at Jackson, who was lying on his doggy pillow near the door. He wagged his tail at us and a brief thought ran through my mind. I wondered if it made Jackson happy to see Will and me like that. Like the wish I might have had for my mother and father to be together. It was an obscure thought that was gone as soon as it arrived, but it made me think about Will and my life and the possibilities.
“Hopes and dreams Will?” I said, arching my eyebrows.
“What are my hopes and dreams?” he asked, clarifying. I nodded. “Well, my hope and maybe also my dream is that you’ll need another bath soon,” he said with a mischievous grin. I elbowed him. “There is actually this one dream I keep having where I’m sitting at a table in a fancy restaurant. Across from me at the table are Jack Black and Jack White. Jack Black is dressed in head-to-toe white, top hat and all, and Jack White is dressed the same, but in head-to-toe black. I sit there motionless, staring at the Jacks, totally confused. They don’t move, they just stare right back at me. It’s fucking weird,” he says, laughing.
I shook my head at him and giggled and then thought it was impossible for Will to be serious. He sat up, still looking straight ahead, and put his hand on my leg. He rubbed my thigh up and down, all the way up to where the bottom of the T-shirt rested. Then he turned and looked at me solemnly and said, “I have them, Mia. That’s all you need to know,” and then he bent over and gave me a swift kiss on the lips. “Night, pretty baby.” He didn’t linger for one second; he got up and headed to his room. In the hallway, he called back, “Let me know if you need anything and stay off that foot.”
“Night, Will,” I whispered, but he didn’t hear me.
Will’s kiss and the way he touched my leg was so intimate and sweet. Not sexy, just intimate, the way you kiss or touch your best friend, with kindness and love and without judgment.
Every opportunity I had over the next several weeks to tell Will that I had broken up with Robert passed me by. The questions kept coming about where Robert was and I continued being evasive. I wanted to tell Will, but I felt like it would change things with us and we were getting along so well.