Chapter 23
D rake could pinpoint the moment Ellie’s mood had changed earlier that night.
He was in the middle of fixing the door when she walked out of his bedroom-turned-home-gym with a dark cloud over her head.
It was normal for her to be a little distant, given what she’d been through recently, he reminded himself.
Besides, Early Christmas Dinner wasn’t really her thing.
On the drive home from last year’s festivities, she’d suggested Drake go on his own next time.
She could handle Christmas, New Year’s, the usual stuff—but did people really need to gather for an extra version of those holidays?
But despite giving Ellie an easy out, she had insisted on joining him.
Drake didn’t want to leave her home alone, either.
He had always known Ben’s absence this time of year must be hard.
Now, he could feel that absence himself.
What were the holidays without someone to crawl out the window with or carry out a prank with?
Drake couldn’t fill that void for her, but he could try to soften its edges.
So, to channel Ben, he’d told some jokes.
He’d encouraged Ellie to sing and dance when the keyboard made its appearance.
He also teed her up to own the spotlight.
Still, Ellie had fled the condo with a stiff escape.
“I’m going to go warm up the car,” she’d blurted as soon as his mom sang the last words to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Drake was standing in the living room with his parents, halfway through the long goodbye it would take to get out the door.
Twenty minutes was the average exit time to leave the Nielson home.
After the goodbyes were given, other topics surfaced until they had to redo the routine all over again.
“Hey, ah, Mom?” Drake said while his dad put some food away. He picked up a blanket on the couch and started to fold it. “Thanks for having us tonight.”
“And?” Beth asked with a hand gesture that implied she knew there was more on his mind.
“And …” Drake wasn’t sure he should mention how distant Ellie had been, but he wanted to know if his mom had picked up on anything he missed.
Beth may have even caused the mood. She could be overly informal, a quality that didn’t always sit well with Ellie.
“What did you and Ellie talk about?” he asked. “When I was doing the door.”
Drake watched his mom replay the night in her mind. “Uh, boxes,” she said, taking a seat on the couch. “Home gyms. You.”
“What about me?”
Beth fiddled with the holiday earrings tucked behind her soft, gray hair.
His cousin, Sarah, had hot glued the pom poms on them in her childhood.
Sarah was nearly thirty, and the earrings were still a yearly statement.
How Drake had become so sentimental wasn’t a mystery to him.
“Not you, exactly,” Beth said. “Ellie helped me move a box from the closet. Then she went through one of your old albums—”
“Which album?” Drake asked. In lieu of making home videos, his mom had scrapbooked every moment of his life. Drake was already embarrassed about what Ellie might have seen, even though he didn’t know what it was.
“It should still be in there, hon. Is everything okay?”
Fixing the door had been a mistake. He should’ve known better than to leave Ellie alone inside his childhood condo, searching for clues and Easter eggs.
If he shared his concerns with his mom, he’d never leave.
He’d end up telling the whole story—about the cinema and their challenges—over the table, which was probably already broken again. “Everything’s fine,” he said.
The photo album Ellie must have flipped through was on his bed.
DRAKE TWENTIES the cover read. He sat, and his fingers pried open the pages.
There was a photo of him at his friend Steve’s apartment.
A few on his first construction sites. One was taken inside of Melinda’s apartment.
Had Ellie visited Melinda’s place? Would she have recognized this photo?
Drake’s fingers flew faster.
He was with Melinda at a park. Melinda at a lakefront beach. Melinda at Nathan’s Diner. Melinda, everywhere.
Ellie knew he had been with Melinda. He didn’t think she would be surprised by this.
But then, he flipped to the final spread at the back of the book and saw exactly what had upset her.
His heart sped to dangerous levels. Here was the start of her bad mood.
Of course, it was. Ellie had stumbled onto this section on her own without any heads-up or explanation for it.
And what she’d found was much worse than he could’ve imagined.
The photos revealed everything Drake hadn’t told her yet.
Ellie was in the driver’s seat when Drake got outside.
Her breath fogged up the windshield. She was probably furious.
“Look,” Drake said as he opened the passenger door.
“I know what you saw up there. I didn’t mean to hide anything from you.
” Ellie turned his way. Her eyes were curious.
“And I feel so bad.” Drake ran his hands through his hair.
“I should’ve explained everything at the beginning.
I didn’t know how.” He waited for Ellie to let him have it. Somehow, the silence was worse.
He had to admit that the photo looked bad without context. But it wasn’t the explosive secret Ellie probably thought it was. Drake wished she could experience everything as it had happened, right there at his side, before reaching a verdict. And then, he remembered, she still could.
It was 10:03. It was also Saturday night.
If they didn’t stop on the drive back to the city, they could make it to the sixth screening.
Drake had been the one to suggest not going back, but he thought it might help smooth things over.
The cinema could fill in more detail than a photo ever would.
Ellie had once argued this herself. “We need to catch the movie,” he said.
“You said we shouldn’t do that, Drake—”
“I know I said that, but … I want—no, need—for you to know everything about me. The whole story. We should see this thing through.”
Eventually, Ellie nodded and threw the car in reverse.
“Well, if you really want to,” she agreed, with a bite, “I guess we better get driving.” Just like that, they were back on the road, back on schedule.
Drake was going to show her the truth. This would fix everything.
“But, Drake,” Ellie said, and he could already feel a part of her closing off to him again.
“What?”
“I think it’s best to bring the rules back.”
Drake was oddly comforted by this suggestion. He needed the rules more than she did. The rules would keep them from fighting until they reached the end of the screenings. “Okay,” he said. “Back to the rules it is.”
Ellie and Drake had cut their timing close with every visit to the cinema.
This night was no exception. At 11:55, they landed at the window for their usual exchange with the ticket boy.
Inside the lobby, Natalie wanted to know if something was wrong.
“Maybe a problem with the picture?” She had noticed they left halfway through last time and missed a week, too.
“Yes,” Ellie said. “There was definitely something wrong—”
“The picture was fine,” Drake assured her. Natalie didn’t necessarily know the content of the movies. He saw no reason to involve her.
“Okay.” Natalie nodded. “Well, let me know if you want me to screen something else tonight. I’ve got a few movies in rotation that I love. Like, Jaws 2. Ever seen Jaws 2 ? It’s so much more suspenseful than the original.”
“I think we’re good,” Drake said. He guided Ellie back toward the stairs leading to the balcony section where they liked to sit.
“But thank you. Thanks.” Once Natalie was out of earshot, he let out a chuckle.
“That’s a pretty unpopular opinion,” he said.
“ Jaws 2 ? I mean, it’s fine, but the first one is a classic. It’s probably a top five movie for me.”
Drake reached to pull the door open for Ellie when they reached the balcony level, and she stepped inside the auditorium.
He continued to ramble as they found their seats.
He was waiting to be called out. Where was the explosion?
Where was the confrontation about why he’d concealed something so important from her?
How little Ellie was talking put him even more on edge.
As always, the lights went down, the hot dog cartoon played, and a new title appeared.
TICKET SIX: HAPPINESS
Ellie had told Drake about the city apartment where she lived after college.
They were seeing that apartment now, which meant Ben had probably died around two years earlier.
Her place was on the second level, sandwiched between a loud walker and a fledgling tenor, as she’d described.
But the call from the doorman to announce a guest gave something away that Ellie hadn’t brought up: her parents must have paid her rent.
The building was more luxurious than her odd jobs would’ve afforded.
The visitor was Sandra. When Ellie opened the door, they stood in silence for a moment, each searching for the right thing to say and coming up empty.
Then, Ellie did something surprising. She wrapped her mom in a hug.
Sandra stiffened at the warmth of the gesture but eventually gave in.
The goodwill melted away when her mom noticed Ellie’s crop top and a belly button piercing, which may have been news to her.
“Is all of this the right look, Ellie?” she asked. “For a birthday?”
Ellie rolled her eyes and grabbed a jacket on the way out. “I don’t think he’s going to mind much,” she said and closed the door too hard behind them.