Chapter 70
Ren
The quiet didn’t feel empty anymore. It felt earned.
I sat in the art room, staring at the piece I’d spent the last few days working on as a way to remember the past and to help me deal with the future. The second coat of polymer varnish was drying on the canvas. I’d seen this in my mind the moment I walked into the room.
The targets I’d taken from the shooting range were in the center.
I wanted to preserve them, but had left all the wrinkles and yellowing that announced a time long past. My parents were painted in the background, out of focus, the lines imperfect, the colors a little distorted, but the look in their eyes was clear.
Four days had passed since everything detonated. Four days ago, my mother stood in my father’s dining room and shattered the version of my life I thought I understood. It had been four days since I’d realized some wounds didn’t bleed out in the moment. They just settled deep and waited.
Campus life didn’t pause for revelations like that. I had moved through the halls quietly, nodding to familiar faces, offering half-smiles where they were expected. I wasn’t hiding. I just wasn’t explaining, not to anyone, maybe not even to myself.
Classes continued. People laughed too loudly in the hallways and complained about assignments, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the world was fragile and history could reach out and grab you by the throat when you least expected it. I envied their ignorance.
The bell rang announcing the end of classes, but it didn’t matter. I was alone in here anyway. Slowly packing up my supplies, I walked over to the sink and cleaned my brushes, the task relaxing in its simplicity.
By the time I stepped out into the hall, I felt better than I had in a long time, more in touch with who I was and who I wanted to be. Myles was waiting for me, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. He looked sexy and sweet and wholly mine.
He lifted his head and smiled as he put his phone away.
“Well, hello there, Snowflake. How ya doing?”
I didn’t wait for him to come to me. I was drawn to the warmth of his body and fell into his embrace.
“I’m better. I think I’ve gone through every emotion possible, but I’m feeling more myself,” I said, and he held me tighter. “You’ve always been able to make me feel better.”
“Aye, it be me superpower,” Myles said, making me laugh.
“Don’t you have practice now?”
“Naw, Coach moved it to tomorrow. Some personal stuff. I didn’t ask,” he said as I stepped back.
He picked up his backpack and flung it over his shoulder. Myles fell into stride beside me, hands in his jacket pockets, one of mine tucked in snugly with his.
The air was cold enough to bite when we walked outside.
Winter clung stubbornly to the edges of campus.
It was the coldest one in twenty years, according to the local news.
Snow crunched beneath our boots as we crossed the quad.
The sky hung low and pale, the kind of gray that made everything feel hushed.
Myles was telling me a story, his voice animated. It had something to do with one of the guys on his team. Something about a text sent to a girl named Vanessa, and what sounded like a spectacular misunderstanding with the girl he was actually trying to ask out.
I listened. Sort of. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, but my mind drifted anyway.
Myles’s voice faded into the background, his words blurring together as my thoughts spiraled.
Not painfully. Just…inward, like I was reorganizing myself a tiny bit at a time.
The only way I’d been able to describe it was an almost complete puzzle being pushed on the floor, and all the pieces scattering.
We reached the doors of the cafeteria, where the afternoon rush was well underway, and the noise spilled out.
“Ren, did you hear what I asked?”
I stopped short, blinking like I was surfacing from being underwater.
“I’m sorry.” I shook my head. “I wasn’t listening. Can you say that again?”
His mouth curved into a smile that held no judgment at all. Just understanding. He leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to my cheek. It was so Myles to be affectionate even when I was the one being rude.
“I said,” he repeated gently, “do ya want to come with me to see Lip?”
Something in my chest loosened. I smiled back at him, a genuine smile that filled me with warmth.
“I’d love that.”
“Aright let’s go get changed. I’ll let him know we’re coming and bringin’ grub.”
As we turned toward the elevator instead, I realized something simple and profound.
Healing didn’t always announce itself.
Sometimes it just walked beside you, talking about nothing important at all, while you learned how to breathe again.
4:46 PM
Myles
Golden Oak always smelled like pencil shavings and floor cleaner. The linoleum shone, a little too-brightly, and posters about kindness were taped to the walls like commandments.
Ren was beside me, clutching the bags of burgers and fries. My eyes drifted as kids rushed past us toward the gym, where they ran after-class games. She smiled when one of them nearly bowled into my leg and shouted an apology that was far too loud for the hallway.
The school had a strict rule against visiting in the student dorms, so we were meeting Lip in one of the private lounges. I found him before he noticed we were there, hunched over a worksheet, tongue poking out in concentration. Too serious for eight.
His whole face changed when he looked up and saw us.
“Myles! Ren!”
Lip’s chair scraped back as he launched himself out of it. Ren barely had time to brace before he barreled into her, arms wrapping around her middle like he’d been holding that hug in all day.
“You came,” he said, muffled against her jacket.
“Of course we did,” Ren said, squeezing him as best she could with the food still in her hands. “And…Myles got you a chocolate, banana milkshake for dessert. I talked him into that.”
“That’s my favorite,” he exclaimed.
Ren winked. “I know. I’m like you, I remember everything.”
His smile brightened a little more, like he was relieved someone finally understood him.
“Come on, let me show you the essay I’m writing, you’re going to love it,” Lip said, practically dragging Ren to the table by her elbow, the excitement oozing out of him.
It was like Saturday had never happened, at least for now. We would see if it came up in his next session with the child psychologist.
Lip talked the entire time. We heard about what his best friend, Chase, did during science class and about a math test he knew he crushed.
Then we chatted about a kid named Brian who kept stealing his colored pencils.
We learned who his favorite teacher was and how he wanted to try out for the football team next year.
Ren listened as if every word mattered. None of it was minor or less than the problems she was facing. She asked questions I would never even think to ask.
As I watched them, some of my worries faded. Lip deserved this. Normal afternoons. People showing up. Proof that even when the world went sideways, he wasn’t alone in it.
“Oh, Myles, guess who is sitting with me at lunch.”
“I don’t know, who?”
“Sienna. She is so nice and funny, and I helped her with her English project, and…”
“Wait. Sienna, as in Sienna Hicks? Liam’s younger sister?”
He nodded enthusiastically as Ren and I gave each other a look.
“Is she your girlfriend,” I asked, and his face screwed up like he’d just sucked on a lemon.
“Nooo, eww, yuck, don’t be gross. Sienna’s just a friend,” he said, but it really sounded like he was protesting a little too much.
I held my hands up. “Alright, was just askin’.”
When the after-dinner bell rang, summoning the students back to their dorms, Lip’s shoulders slumped. Ren kneeled in front of him, level with his eyes.
“We’ll come again, really soon,” she said. “Okay? And when the weather is nicer, we’re going to do things together, like go camping, as a family.”
Lip looked at her. “You think of me as family?”
Ren grabbed him and hugged him tight, and he followed, wrapping his arms around her neck.
“Yup, you’re my family always. I can be like a big sister if you want?”
“I’d like that, I don’t have a sister,” Lip mumbled, making my eyes tear up. “Lots of brothers, though,” he added, making me laugh.
When he backed up, Ren held her fist out. They bumped and then did like four other things I couldn’t follow, but Lip seemed to understand right away. They did it again smoother this time, and Ren gave him a wink.
“It’s official now, we have our own secret handshake. We’re family forever.”
Lip nodded, blinking fast. He hugged her one more time and then me before darting out and down the hall. We stepped out and watched him go. Before he entered the dorm, Lip glanced over his shoulder to make sure we were still there. He waved and then disappeared.
I put my hand on Ren’s shoulder, and she let out the breath she’d been holding. She leaned into my side as we walked toward the exit. I wrapped an arm around her, grounding us both as we stepped outside and headed for Mo and the armored vehicles waiting.
“You okay,” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah. I am. This was exactly what I needed.”
For the first time in days, I believed her.
There were a few things I knew for sure. One was that no matter how complicated everything else became, Lip would always have us.
And the other was that Snowflake would always have me.