42. Becca
FORTY-TWO
BECCA
“Papaw!”
Ellie goes charging into the garage ahead of me, arms wide as she runs for her grandpa. Upon hearing her voice, he drops what he’s doing and stands so he can scoop her up and spin her around.
I wave to Johnny while all that’s going down, but I don’t see Tyler anywhere.
“Where’s Ty?”
“Out test-driving a car,” Johnny says over the commotion of Papaw and Ellie’s greeting. “He should be back any minute.”
“Actually, it’s kind of good that he’s gone. Mr. Davis, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure thing. Ellie, go have some of Papaw’s pretzels while I talk to your ma—I mean. Becca.” He lowers his voice. “What does she call you?”
“Just Becca for now. If she ever wants to call me something else, that’ll be fine too.”
He nods. “What’s up? You two coming for Sunday dinner this week?”
“Yes, but isn’t it Tyler’s birthday on Friday?”
Mr. Davis chuckles. “He hasn’t said a word about it, has he?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course not. I thought I remembered that it’s on Friday, but I wasn’t bold enough to check his driver’s license. He’s so weird about it.”
He checks to make sure Ellie’s occupied and eyes me carefully. “Well, he never was big on his birthday, but now he kind of has good reason. CJ OD’d on his birthday a few years back.”
I gasp and my hand jumps to cover my mouth. “Oh no. Oh god. How awful.”
My heart breaks for CJ, but even more for Tyler. I wonder what condition he found her in, what he did with Ellie. Whether she took extra because of what day it was or whether it was just an accident.
I feel worse that it’s the first I’m hearing of it, but I guess we’ve only been back in each other’s lives for a few months. I’m surprised Dusty didn’t mention it, though.
“Yeah. Dusty knows not to touch it with a ten-foot pole, and his mom always just makes a quiet dinner at home. It’s a hard day for him.”
I shake my head and cross my arms, chewing my thumbnail. “Gosh, I was about to plan him a surprise party, but I don’t want to make it worse.”
Mr. Davis fidgets with the wrench in his hand. “You’ve been so good for him, though. A fresh start. Maybe he just needs some new happy memories to cover up the old bad ones.”
“That’s kind of what I was thinking,” I say. “I didn’t know about the overdose, though.”
He tosses a hand. “I wouldn’t let that stop you. It’s time he accepted how many people love him. Sometimes you have to do that kind of stuff by force. A birthday party might be just the thing he doesn’t know he needs.”
I chew my lip, hoping this is all the right answer. “What kind of cake is his favorite? I make him banana bread all the time, but I figure cake is a different category.”
Mr. Davis chuckles. “For that, I think you’ll have to call his mom.”