Snapshot

21. Reese

“Elijah! Put that spoon down. Your dad is going to be back from picking your sister up soon, and if you eat all the ice cream before she gets to have a float, she’s going to be so upset.”

Elijah groans but drops the spoon into the sink and grumbles. “My birthday celebration and I can’t even have my ice cream when I want.”

I chuckle and clap his back. “Yeah, but your mom is right. Would you rather wait or listen to Winnie whine the rest of the night?”

He seems to ponder, then nods. “You’re right. I knew I kept you around for a reason. So, what did you get me for my birthday?”

I cock an eyebrow. “I gave you your gift last week, when it was actually your birthday, and we’ve been playing it every night since.”

“Yeah, but I figured since we are celebrating tonight, you’d get me something else.” He’s grinning, but I know he’s serious. Asshole.

“You owe me, like, twenty gifts. Christmases and birthdays alike.”

Elijah’s face splits even more with a guilty grin. “Call us even?”

I roll my eyes but take his extended hand. “Yeah, whatever. One day you’re gonna owe me something big, though.”

“Just say what and it’s yours, man.”

Oh, this could be good. I better save it for something really big. By the time I’ll cash it in, he’s going to owe me a shit ton of stuff, or something really big, anyway.

We’re playing the birthday gift I got Elijah when someone lets out a blood-curdling scream. If I was at home, I probably wouldn’t even react, and for a moment, I forget where I am because that’s not something I hear at the Lewis household.

Elijah jumps out of his chair and runs for his mom, and I’m not far behind.

My feet halt at the bottom of the steps seeing the flashing red-and-blue lights and two police officers with their heads hung low outside the front door. Elijah drops by his mom’s side.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” He shoots a panicked look at me, then up to the cops still standing there.

One of them, the one I recognize from seeing him drop my dad off a time or two, is eyeing me. Almost like he’s judging me, and it’s making me uncomfortable.

“There’s been an accident, son,” the cop who isn’t glaring at me says.

My heart slams against my chest.

An accident.

Mrs. Lewis crying.

Winnie.

Fuck, please don’t be Winnie.

“W-what do you mean?” he asks. “Mom, what’s he mean?”

Mrs. Lewis wipes her face, but there’s no point since the tears are still falling. “Your dad was in an accident, and…”

And…

“He didn’t make it.”

Elijah doesn’t move. I watch as the life drains from my best friend right in front of my eyes, and all I can do is stare at him.

Mr. Lewis is…dead? But, if he was in an accident, does that mean—

“What about Winnie?” Elijah thankfully asks, his voice hollow.

She shakes her head, and it takes everything in me not to throw up.

“She’s fine. She’s still at the airport. She doesn’t know.” The Lewises collapse together, their sobs filling the small room. It’s suffocating. On one hand, I’m relieved Winnie wasn’t involved, but I loved Mr. Lewis. I loved him more than I could ever love my own dad, and now he’s… gone.

I don’t know how long passes, but eventually, Mrs. Lewis pulls away and stands on shaky legs. She turns to me, but I keep my head down because it’s not fair for me to cry when I’m not the one who lost my dad.

She cups my face and tilts it up to look at her. “Can you do me a favor, Reese?”

Anything. I say the word in my head because I don’t trust myself to say it out loud.

She nods as if understanding. “Can you go pick up Winnie? The police officers offered to do it, but I think it would be best for one of us to do it, and we are in no state to drive.”

“Of course.” My voice is hoarse and hurts from biting back my emotions.

“We have to head to the hospital.” Another sob rips from her, and she cups her mouth. And, finally, my dam breaks. I wrap my arms around the woman who’s always been like a second mother, and I hug her soft body as tight as I can without actually hurting her.

I can’t imagine the pain she feels. I’ve never seen someone as in love as the Lewises, and now… now she has to go through life without him.

A few minutes pass, and then she pulls away, once again calmed down enough to speak. She wipes my face before I get the chance. “I love you, Reese. You know that, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Never forget it, okay? Promise me.”

I don’t understand why she’s telling me this now, but I guess it’s one of those things where you hold your loved ones closer after a tragedy; I’m just glad to be considered one of them.

“Promise, Mrs. Lewis.”

She taps my face and lets me go. “You better get going. She should be landing anytime now.”

“Okay.” I reach into my pocket and pull out my keys. Keys I was so excited to hold a few days ago when I finally saved up enough money to fix up my truck. It’s a piece of shit, and the gas mileage is ass, but it’s mine. I don’t have to fight with my dad to get him to let me borrow his, and that’s the best part about it all. I texted Winnie a video of it finally running, and she said she couldn’t wait to ride in it. Sucks the first time she gets to, I have to tell her that her dad died.

“You can just come back here. We shouldn’t be too long, and she doesn’t need to see anything.” Her lips wobble, but she doesn’t let it out this time. “Elijah, you might want to stay—”

“I’m coming,” he snaps. He hasn’t moved from the floor. Hugging his knees and leaning against the wall.

I’m not used to seeing Elijah not smiling. He smiles more than anyone I know, but right now, he looks so lost, like he’s never smiled before in his life.

I crouch next to him on my way out. Unsure what to say, I rest my hand on his knee. He looks up with lost eyes and lays his hand on top.

“Brothers,” I mutter. It’s been something we’ve done forever. Usually when one of us is pissed at the other and we need a reminder that, even though we’re pissed, we are still here for each other.

“Yeah.” He lets out a long breath and winces. “Drive safe, please.”

“Wooowie.Listen to her!”

Reese leads me to the truck that’s been sitting across the way, unable to move for so long. “It sounds even shittier in person,” I joke, but he doesn’t smile. I think he’s trying, but it doesn’t work. He’s been quiet since he met me at baggage claim. I was expecting my dad, but I’m also happy to see Reese. I just wish he was happier to see me.

The ride home is awkward. I thought we were getting past the awkwardness after I kissed him a few months ago, but I guess not. Needing a dose of comfort, I pull my feet up, assuming he doesn’t care if they are on his ripped seat, and tuck my chin. I want to blab about my time in New York because it was absolutely amazing, but it doesn’t seem like the time anymore.

Right now, I’m wishing my dad was the one to pick me up.

After a while, Reese pulls up outside my house, and I frown at the darkened windows. “Is no one home?” I look over when he doesn’t answer, finding him shaking his head. “What? Why not?” I thought we were celebrating Elijah’s birthday today since I missed it last week.

“Winnie…” His voice is soft in a way I don’t hear often. Something inside me sinks, and that feeling you get when something bad is about to happen is overwhelming. I shoot a look back to the house and push open my door. He calls after me, but I don’t stop. His door slams, and his feet are quick behind me.

I shove open the front door and flick on the light. Everything looks okay. A little messier than normal, but maybe they have been busy. Moving to the kitchen, I peer at the ice cream tub sitting on the counter, melting all over the place and onto the floor.

The pit opens.

“Reese… what’s going on?”

He steps behind me, and his chest shakes. I close my eyes because I instinctively know whatever he’s going to say is going to destroy me.

Reese wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. “I love you, Win. You know that, right?”

I did, but he’s never told me outright like that before. “Reese,” I whisper, scared of my own emotions swirling inside me.

“Let’s go sit down.” He grabs my hand and leads me into the living room. Taking a seat next to me, he keeps my hand in his and rests it on my lap. His eyebrows are pushed together, and I want to smooth that stress line between them.

“Your mom and E are at the hospital.”

My chest aches with how hard my heart is beating. “Why?”

Tears burn the back of my eyes, but seeing Reese fighting with his own causes them to flow. He swipes one away and drops his focus back down to our hands. “Your dad.”

Please don’t.

“He, uh, he was in an accident on his way to get you, and…”

No. No. Please don’t say what I think you’re about to, Reese.

“He… didn’t make it. I’m so, so sorry, Winnie.”

Winnie hasn’t stopped crying since I told her. I’ve been holding her for forty minutes, and I don’t know what else to do. The front door clicks open, but she doesn’t react, having not heard it. Mrs. Lewis walks into the room, looking even more run-down than before. She looks absolutely defeated.

She regards me with a thoughtful look, her eyebrows pulled together as she looks to her daughter in my arms. “Winnie.” Her voice is weak, and she clears it.

Winnie sits up with a blotchy face and looks to her mom, who is waiting for her with open arms. Everything inside me revolts hearing Mrs. Lewis and Winnie crying for their husband and father.

Wanting and needing to give them space and get some fresh fucking air, I push to my feet and head for the entryway but stop when I notice Elijah on the front porch still, staring across to my house.

I head out and stop next to him, looking at whatever he is seeing. But there’s nothing.

“I’m sorry.” It sounds so fucking lame saying, but I don’t know what else to say.

He dips his chin.

“If you ever wanna talk—”

“I don’t.”

I snap my mouth shut at his aggravated tone. “Okay.”

Mrs. Lewis calls for Elijah, and he flinches, but he turns, only pausing to glare at me before storming inside, slamming the door in my face.

I know death can affect people in different ways, but I don’t understand why he seems to be mad at me.

I don’t move for the door, still staring at my house and wondering what he saw that would make him so angry, but I don’t see it no matter how hard I look.

The door opens, and I hope it’s him so he can fill me in on what is going on, but it’s Mrs. Lewis. She sets my shoes down next to me.

“You better head home, sweetheart.”

But I don’t want to go home. I feel like they need me here. Like I—

“Reese,” Mrs. Lewis cuts off my thoughts, and I drag my eyes over to her swollen ones. “It was your dad who hit Christopher.”

My entire world comes crashing down with seven little words.

“What do you mean?” I regret asking as soon as I do, but I need to know exactly what she’s saying because it sounds a lot like it was my dad who killed the best man I knew.

“Your dad had been drinking. He swerved into Christopher’s lane, and…”

No.No. It couldn’t have been my dad who killed him. God wouldn’t be so cruel to put that guilt on me.

“Is he dead?” I choke on the words, even though I hope she says yes.

“No.”Damn him. “But he’s not doing well. The police were trying to get ahold of your mom, but she didn’t answer when they called.”

Yeah, she’s probably already taken her drugs and passed out. I clench my fists. “Okay.”

“Reese.” Mrs. Lewis grabs my shoulders and forces me to look at her, brushing a piece of my hair behind my ear.

“I’m sorry.” It’s word vomit, and seemingly the only thing I know how to say tonight.

“You are not to blame for your father’s actions, you hear me?”

I don’t think Elijah feels the same; his anger toward me makes sense now. I’m angry at myself now too. Why was I given to such shit parents at birth? Why couldn’t I have been born into a nice family like the Lewises’. If I was actually family, there would have never been a weird moment between Winnie and me, and my dad would have never been the cause of all of this.

“Did you tell Winnie?”

She nods her head slowly. My heart threatens to jump from my chest, and right now, I wish it would. “She asked what happened. I had to tell her, sweetheart. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” You’re not the one who killed someone.

If anyone should, it should be my piece of shit father who is possibly lying on his deathbed. I hope he dies. I’ve never felt that way before, even through all the bullshit, but right now, I wish—no, Iprayfor my father to die.

He took away the best man, father, and friend from the best family I know. Mr. Lewis didn’t deserve to lose his life. He’s going to be missed by so many, but no one would miss my dad. The drunk. Themurderer.

“Winnie wants the night alone, but she asked me to ask if you would meet her on the roof tomorrow.”

I shoot her a sideways look. I didn’t know she knew about that.

A gentle smile that doesn’t reach her eyes graces her face. “Christopher and I knew the first time you climbed up there all those years ago, Reese. You left the fire ladder down.”

Well, I didn’t know that either.

She grabs my hand and squeezes. “My family is going to take some time to heal, but I don’t want you pulling away. We all love you so much.”

The guilt weighs on me like a boulder, but I don’t want to abandon them after they’ve lost so much. “I’ll be around as much as you need.”

“Thank you. You better go wake your mom and tell her.”

Fuck, that’s the last thing I want to do. So I don’t. Mom won’t care. She’s going to be too high to know what I’m saying anyway. Instead, I climb in my truck and head for the hospital.