Chapter 20
I get a phone call from Teal just as I’m choosing what to wear for dinner at William’s. “Well?” she asks.
“Well what?” I put the phone on speaker so I can keep going through the armoire.
“Hold on. Sage wants me to three-way her in the call.”
I hear a number of beeps and then a ring tone. Sage picks up in the middle of the first one. “Did Adam get mad about your date? Also, how was the date?”
My first thought is my sisters somehow learned that Adam and I grabbed burritos and then went to the beach. Even excluding the part where we visited the wild, wide oak in the woods and proceeded to make out inside it, the whole thing sounds very date-ish. I pause on perusing through my dresses.
Was that a date? It sure felt like one. It’s not like Crescent Beach is ever busy, unlike the downtown beach, so it doesn’t make sense for Adam to bring me there to do a pretend-friendship outing.
And the only reason we discussed the topic for his piece was that I brought it up.
I took us to the tree. If it weren’t for that, would he have asked me questions about what happened to me at all?
Did Adam and I literally just go on our first date, and I didn’t even know it?
“Sky?” Teal asks. “Did we lose you when I got Sage on?”
I shake my head even though they can’t see me. “No, no. Sorry, I just got really confused by the three hundred questions that were just asked.”
Sage laughs. “Okay. Touché. Let’s start with: Did you go on the date?”
I pull out a lemon yellow sundress and place it on my comforter. “I did not.”
“Oh. So you told Amá Sonya you changed your mind?”
“Nope. The guy arrived and he was old enough to be my grandparent.”
“He was not,” Teal gasps.
“Okay. Maybe a young grandparent, but still. There was a thirty-year age gap or so. Which…that’s fine for someone else, but not for me.”
“So what did you do?” Teal asks. “Cancel on him by telling him you’re sorry you don’t know the signs of a heart attack?”
I laugh. “No. Adam told him that he and I were dating. And that was why I couldn’t go to breakfast.”
Now they both gasp. “What the hell?” Sage says. “You didn’t mention Adam being there!”
They make me back up the story to tell them every single detail.
Which I do. Sort of. For some reason, I just don’t want to tell them about the beach.
About the burritos. My revelation that it might have been a not-date date is a little overwhelming now.
Especially since, of course, my sisters are already making baseless claims about Adam’s motivations.
“See. I told you,” Teal says. “That man wants you.”
“It really does sound like he couldn’t stand to see you with someone else,” Sage agrees.
I tilt my head and make a hmm-ing noise. “I mean. Maybe he’s got a crush.”
“Maybe?” Teal practically shouts. “He literally chased off your date. Who was in the driveway to pick you up!”
“You guys!” I sit on the bed and bury my face in my hands.
“Maybe—yes, maybe he’s got a crush. But he’s probably trying to be ethical, because of the article and stuff.
I need to respect that.” I use the opportunity to change the subject.
“By the way, he wants to interview the two of you for it. If you’re okay with that, I mean.
And Teal? No interrogating him about his feelings for me. ”
“Aw, man!”
We playfully bicker for a few more minutes, before asking Sage about how she’s doing (much better, the SSRIs are finally kicking in), how the baby is doing (still obsessed with milk), and how Teal’s leather launch is doing (she’s still working hard to meet the deadlines, but Carter is forcing her to take the necessary breaks).
When we end the call, I realize that my eyes are stinging.
I lie back on the bed and let the tears fall down the sides of my cheeks.
It’s only just now hit me, for some reason. But my sisters are back. They remembered me. They care about me.
They love me.
Maybe there really isn’t a reason to try and move away the first second I can. Because having my sisters by my side…it makes me feel like I can accomplish anything. Even surviving in this town. Maybe even, one day, thriving in this town.
I decide on a cropped turquoise tank top and high-waisted, frayed short-shorts. Nadia isn’t home when I leave. If I left a note, I wonder how long it would take her to read it. Days? A week? Who am I kidding—she would never even notice it.
I sigh and grab my bag, slipping on my shoes before going out the front door.
Before I can knock on William’s door, Adam throws it open, his face sweet and happy. “Hey! You made it!”
“Yes?” I give him a confused smile in return. “Aren’t I, like, ten minutes early, even?”
“Are you?” He glances at the silvery wall clock. “Oh yeah. Huh. Well, I’ve got the eggplant all fried up. But I need to build the thing and roast it in the oven for a few minutes.”
“I can help.”
Adam doesn’t want my help, I guess, because he shakes his head rather aggressively. “Go sit,” he says.
I blink. I’m just not used to anyone taking care of my food, and it feels awkward to not get in the kitchen and get my hands dirty. “Are you—”
“Sky. Sit.” Adam points at the sofa on his way back to the kitchen, and damned if I didn’t enjoy the hint of sharp in his demanding tone.
William’s in his chair in the living room, looking like he’s about to fall asleep. “William?” I ask. “You tired?”
“I’m eighty-four years old,” he responds without opening his eyes. “I’m always damned tired as all hell.”
“And grumpy as all hell, too,” I add.
William grunts in response, and then asks me a question I was not prepared for, especially from him. “You believe in ghosts?”
I blink, all of a sudden nervous that he might know the truth about me.
About how I’d spent eight years wandering the World of the Living as, for all intents and purposes, a ghost, a ghost who specifically spent an inordinate amount of time in this very house.
“Um.” Best to just be honest, I guess. “Yeah. I do.”
William grunts and reclines his chair even farther, so his gaze is on the ceiling. “Last night I saw my wife.”
“Oh?” I turn toward him. “What…I mean, did she say anything?”
“Not a thing. I walked in the bedroom, and she was there, sitting on the edge of the bed. Wearing that one purple nightgown…She smiled at me, I blinked, she was gone. Been trying to figure out if my mind is gone since.”
Ah. He wants reassurance, I imagine, especially since his doctor thinks he has some signs of dementia.
The reminder of this feels like a little pang right into my gut.
“I believe in ghosts, William. She was probably making sure you’re okay.
Maybe double-checking that you weren’t living on Hungry-Man frozen dinners. ”
William chuckles. “She did get on my case about all the salt in crap like that.” He takes a breath. “Well, you’re making sure I get something to eat that isn’t made of garbage. She’d like that.”
My heart feels a sharp sting, but not one of pain. I think this is William’s way of saying thank you. I didn’t bring him food for gratitude. But all the same, it’s touching to hear it. Enough to make my eyes get the slightest bit teary.
“All right,” Adam says, plates balanced on his arms. “It’s time. Hope you guys are hungry. I kind of made a lot.”
William and I approach as Adam sets the table and grabs us water bottles from the fridge. As I approach the table, Adam pulls out my chair for me, a big smile on his face. “Oh. Thanks,” I say, settling in.
When I look up, William is glancing between the both of us, his eyebrow raised. But luckily, I guess he’s too hungry to say anything about “us kids” again, because about a half second later, his mouth is entirely full.
“This looks so beautiful,” I tell Adam, because it really does. There are four breaded and fried eggplant slices overlapping around my plate. The sauce drizzles onto the plate, under the most perfectly crispy and gooey cheese. He even placed a garnish of fresh basil in the middle.
I can feel Adam’s eyes on me as I take the first bite, which makes me a little nervous.
It’s a lot of pressure, trying a meal in front of the person who made it.
What if I don’t pass the test on what a proper reaction is supposed to look like for them?
But the food is so good, I don’t stop and consider what reaction to perform for Adam.
Instead, I close my eyes and moan a little bit.
“Wow. This really is your specialty,” I say after swallowing.
“Specialty,” William snorts. “If this is your specialty, why haven’t you ever made it for me before?”
“Uh, maybe because you told me you weren’t going to eat any of my, and I quote, ‘vegetarian shit’?”
William grunts in response, which confirms he’s definitely told Adam that before.
“Are you transitioning to vegetarianism?” I ask Adam, because I’ve seen him eat meat a time or two in the last two weeks.
Adam shakes his head. “When I first moved to the city, I was broke. I couldn’t afford meat. So I had to get creative. And ever since, I’ve always incorporated vegetarian meals. I guess they’re kind of comforting now.”
“Plus your mother didn’t eat meat,” William says.
Adam winces. Only a fraction of a second before he catches himself, but it’s there all the same.
I remember that William said Adam lost his mother recently…
and that Adam hasn’t once mentioned it to me.
I wish it wouldn’t be weird of me to grab his hand right now.
I really want to comfort him somehow, like all the ways he has done the same for me.
“Right,” Adam says, his voice pretty monotone. “She didn’t.”
I’m afraid William is going to volunteer more information Adam doesn’t want out there, so I say quickly, “My aunt is famous for her cheese enchiladas. They’re completely vegetarian. I can make them again next Friday.”