He lets out a sigh. “Good. One less thing to worry about.”
“Is Mom okay?”
“Oh, yeah, just the flu. Everyone on set has been sick.”
“Okay, good. I heard the dog ate the turkey.”
“Damn dog. She’s lucky she’s so cute and Gracie loves her so much.”
“I gotta go eat dinner, but tell Mom I love and miss her. And tell her next year things will be different.”
“I hope you’re right,” he says, and then we say goodbye.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I have pre-traumatic death syndrome or something. Every time I think of my future, I picture me dead.
Which makes me feel guilty, because I know Cooper’s Thanksgiving has to be rougher than mine.
Me: I was thinking of you today. I know it's gotta be tough.
Cooper: I was thinking of you today too.
Me: Don’t worry about me.
Cooper: Garrett says you’re not going back to school.
Me: I was going to discuss my plan with you after the holiday.
Cooper: Tell me now.
Me: Um, it’s still in the planning stages, that’s why I want to talk to you.
Cooper: Yet it sounds like you’ve made up your mind.
Me: I have about school. I just haven’t decided for sure where I’m going to live.
Cooper: Don’t take off on your own.
Me: I wasn’t planning to. I was going to ask you to come with me.
Cooper: See, you’re smarter than Garrett thinks.
Me: He thinks I’m going to do something stupid.
Cooper: Are you?
Me: I considered walking into Vincent’s office and telling him I want to audition for his movie.
Cooper: Tell me you scrapped that plan.
Me: Not quite yet. I wanted to get your thoughts. He’s like a bully, Cooper. Maybe I just need to stand up to him.
Cooper: There is a big difference between a bully and a sociopath. Do some research.
Me: Does that mean if I don’t go back to school, you’ll still help me?
Cooper: Of course.
Me: That makes me cry, Cooper. Thank you. I just want to be proactive instead of sitting around waiting for him to find me.
Cooper: Go eat some turkey. I heard your dinner smells amazing.
Me: Have you been keeping tabs on me?
Cooper: Absolutely.
Love song about her lips.
3:15pm
Damian and I are the first ones in the great room.
“This is crazy,” Damian says, pacing in front of me, holding a glass of wine. “I'm insanely crazy about her. I'm currently writing the world’s longest love song about her lips. She doesn’t have a boyfriend or anything does she?”
“I don't think she'd be kissing you if she did.”
“Trust me. That doesn’t stop a lot of girls.”
I touch his forearm and get him to look at me. “Damian, she felt it too.”
His eyes widen in shock.
“Seriously? Do you think that really happens?” He sets his wineglass down without taking a sip and starts pacing again. “Of course, it happens. How many times have we heard the story of Ab—” He stops in the middle of his sentence, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, when Aiden walks in the room. “Um, the story of Aberly and, uh, Fritz.”
“Who's Aberly and Fritz?” Aiden asks.
“They're my dad's friends,” Damian says, picking his goblet up and taking a swig before continuing. “I need something stronger than this. You like scotch, Aiden?”
“My dad is trying to teach me to appreciate it,” Aiden replies. “So tell us their story.”
As Damian plunks ice into two highball glasses and pours a 25-year old scotch over them, he says, “They come here sometimes, and they like to tell the story of how they met. Of how it was an instant, love at first sight thing. They've been together ever since.”
I smile thinking about Tommy and my mom. “Yeah, they're pretty amazing. I hope you can meet them someday.”
Because I do.
I think Tommy would love Aiden, and my mom would be as mesmerized by him and his wooing as I am. I think about Logan and his big gesture. About Aiden and the dirt. B and his sandycastles. My mom is into big gestures, and Tommy never does anything small. He whisked her away to St. Petersburg on their/our first date. And a few months later, he surprised both of us by remembering the day my dad died, by taking us to his grave and then later to the Santa Monica Pier. He’s never been threatened by our past, I think, because he’s confident he’ll be in our future.
Damian hands Aiden his drink as Peyton walks into the room.
She looks gorgeous.
Damian is staring at her, mesmerized. When she smiles the blazing love god smile, I see the same dreamy look in Damian’s eyes that I suspect is in my own when I look at Aiden.