“I just told ya; be honest. How about ‘Hey, Evan, I promised Dane I wouldn’t touch your ass until I figure all this out,’ or ‘Hey, Dane, there’s no way I can avoid kissing Evan, I spoke too soon.’ I don’t know, say you have mono.”
I crack up at him because neither of those would go over well and I’d have a hard time explaining to Evan how I had the kissing disease! “Is this as exhausting to you as it is me? Truth is, Zach, I’m scared. Do I really know Dane well enough to take a chance on him?”
“Don’t you dare do that, Laney. Do not second guess you and Dane just for the sake of a decision. You know there’s something there.”
“Since when are you Dane’s biggest fan?”
“I’m a Laney fan. Your pretty lil face lights up when that kid walks in and that tells me all I need to know. He obviously makes you happy, so he and I are good.”
“Thanks, Zach, for everything.”
“No sweat, my pet. Now go figure your shit out and call me if you need me. I’ll see ya when you get back.”
Settled into the comfort of my old bedroom, I’d normally have no trouble going to sleep at this hour, but tonight sleep evades me. My skin is crawling from the inside out and I’m on edge. There’s no Disney movie for this, no band-aid. I decide to call Evan, maybe do a little prep for our talk tomorrow. I can tell he’s been drinking in three words.
“Hey, hot stuff.”
“Hey, Ev, whatcha doing?” I know what he’s doing; I can hear the party in the background. The night before a game, really?
“Just hanging out, you?”
“Nothing, I’ll just talk to you later, I can tell you’re busy. I’ll see you when you get here.”
“Don’t be mad please, listen, I can’t really hear you, let me call you back,” he yells into the phone, and about ten seconds before I say okay, I hear her.
“Get off the phone, Evan, the booty call’s right here.”
Oh hell no—I know that voice. It’s drunken and slurred, but it’s Kaitlyn. Why is he in the same room with her, close enough I can hear her? She destroys me and you hang with her? Evan has never blatantly hurt or disrespected me, all these years, but this is a straight shot.
“Fuck you, Evan.” I hang up.
I turn off my phone and go down some Nyquil. I’m done with this day.
Chapter Thirty-One
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CONFESSIONS
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Laney
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Daddy’s up at the crack of dawn, as always. I get up and amble into the kitchen to join him.
“Go sit down, Daddy; I’ll get your breakfast.” We eat together, talking little and I know exactly what will make me feel better. “You feel like going fishing?”
“I sure as hell do, kiddo.”
It’s a great day for it and soon we’re out of worms. My soul feels lighter; I hope his does, too. He’s been all smiles, casting and reeling with gusto all day. I love this time with my dad. He’s such a companionable man. I always wonder how she couldn’t find solace in him, in a life with him. I know he’d have done anything she needed.
We get home at dusk and I clean up and make us tuna casserole. My dad scarfs it down; he’s obviously gone too long without someone cooking for him. He heads to bed early, so I finally turn my phone back on; no one gets to interrupt fishing or Daddy time.
I don’t even open the texts from Evan, I’m still so mad I can’t see straight. I text Zach to see how his game went and then I call Dane back, he’d called once last night and twice today.
“Hey, finally, where you been?”
His voice covers me like a blanket, wrapping me in repose instantly. In that very moment, I know Evan could move into my room and my skin would still tingle when I see, hear, or think of Dane. This isn’t going away. “I’m sorry, I turned off my phone ‘cause I fished all day with my dad. How are you?”
“Better now that you called. I miss you, baby.”
I miss him, too, surprisingly badly. I just can’t say it out loud, though, so I change the subject. “Tell me about your day. What’d you do last night?” I ask, trying to concentrate on his answer. He could just keep calling me baby over and over; it makes me crazy when he says it.
He tells me The Crew hit The Kickback last night and then all went to Zach’s game today, which the Eagles won. Now he was lying in his bed “missing me.”
“Dane, tell me something real. Tell me something as important as everything I tell you.” He has to do this, right this minute; it’s vital that he instill some trust in me. The next few sentences out of his mouth are as important as anything he’s ever said to me. I have to know this connection isn’t one-sided and goes deeper than physical attraction.
“You name it, baby, what would you like to know?”
I could probably get “the real number” out of him right now, the one every girl wonders the minute she decides she likes a guy. That’s not really what I want to know. Shoot, who am I kidding, yes I do...but I just can’t ask it. “So, let me think...how about one light and one heavy question, okay?”