26. Samuel #2
Benji shook his head. “No. This day is not over. There’s... there’s something important we need to talk about.” He broke free from our embrace and trailed toward his bed, sitting down. He rested his hands on his lap, staring at the spot next to him. Without needing another invitation, I followed.
“So, I’ll just say it,” he announced, pausing immediately as if he had started speaking before sorting his thoughts.
His eyes rested on my knees for a moment before making their way up to my chin.
“I’ve had a lot of conversations today.” His head swung left and right as he started to list them all.
“Gordy, your mom, my mom... and throughout these conversations, I realized something important.” His eyes finally made it to my face.
“I don’t want to have a long-distance relationship with you.
” His hands flew up, palms open, as if warding off any wrong interpretations before they arose.
“No, no, no. I hear how that sounded. I’m not breaking up with you. ”
“That’s... good,” I said with a pained smile, still not grasping where this was going.
“Yeah, sorry. That was misleading.”
“A little.”
“So, anyway. Back to the topic.” He took a deep breath, his toes curling in his socks before he asked me straight to my face, “Would you be open to the idea of moving to Silver Basin with me ?”
I wish I could’ve seen my own expression in that moment. My mouth probably looked idiotic, my eyes big and dumbfounded. My brain had given me zero warning lights, and now that it was time to formulate a reply, it took forever to come up with words.
“I mean... yeah... of course!” I said. “I still remember asking you in the first place, but... how? What about your mom?”
“Legitimate question.” He took a deep breath.
“As I said, we had a long talk earlier. Like, ultra long. I made it clear to her that I wasn’t going to leave if that meant abandoning her.
But she said she doesn’t want me to put my life on hold for her, either.
When I heard that, it hit me hard. Over the last years, it never felt like I was putting anything on hold, but with you now?
” He rested his hand on the comforter between us, his pinky tapping toward me.
“I have to admit that I liked the little dream we had about our future.” He pulled his hand away to scratch his elbow, but brought it right back, this time resting it on my knee.
“So, after some back and forth, we came up with an idea that doesn’t sound stupid to me.
” He lifted his hand again, now sweeping it through the air in front of him as if he were sketching the plan on an invisible chalkboard.
“I’ll live with you, and come here one or two days a week instead, like Tuesday and Wednesday, so I can do all the doctors’ appointments with her, shopping, and help with whatever else they need.
For the rest of the week, they’d be on their own, but I mean, they also did pretty well without me for the last few weeks. ”
“You were always only a phone call away, then, though.”
“That’s exactly what I said.” A grin formed on his lips. “But guess who stepped in then. Your mom. Said there are more people who can help if worse comes to worst. She even offered to take her to the appointments if I can’t get out of work.”
The plan took a second to sink in, but as soon as I pictured spending five out of seven days a week with him, or better, only one night without him by my side, a whole new world opened up in my head.
“We could, once I have my degree, move back as soon as possible,” I said, probably a little too enthusiastically. “There are schools here. I could totally be a teacher at Red Creek High.”
“For example. It still hinges on me finding a job in the city, of course. But... we could try.” He turned his hand over, opening his palm to me. “Do you want to?”
“Do you even have to ask?” I grinned, and Benji’s eyebrow shot up before he shook his head, smiling, too.
He pulled me into another hug, one stronger than the one before, like we needed to seal the deal with it.
“We’re really doing this?” I asked.
“It’s going to be tough,” he stated.
“But it’ll be worth it.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
He held me for at least ten minutes before he asked if we wanted to head back out.
“Just one more minute,” I replied, and held onto him.
This was all I had ever wanted, and it felt unreal how close I had already come to achieving it.
Not that moving in together made things easier.
There was so much we had to take care of now, but one thing was clear: we’d made it through so much already; we could make it through these next few months, too.
Eventually, we made our way into the backyard. A table with six mismatched chairs, four white plastic and two from their dining table, was set up right in the middle of Benji’s garden.
Dad and Mr. Putnam stood in front of the grill, each clinging to a beer, staring at the steaks already sizzling over the coals. As soon as they spotted us, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
“Did you talk about everything?” Dad asked.
I nodded. Benji and I grabbed some drinks from the cooler—a lemonade for me and a sparkling water with a hint of lemon aroma for him—and planted ourselves in the chairs.
“So, college, huh?” Mr. Putnam asked, grinning at me. “Are you excited?”
I looked at Benji, unable to hide the fattest grin on my face. “Now, more than ever.”