I clap and whoop, and she executes a dramatic bow. My laughter echoes through the night, a foreign but welcome sound.
She cups her hands around her mouth. “Goodnight, Drew.”
I wave to her and watch as she turns, speeds across her yard, and slips inside the house. I shake my head. Why am I even surprised? She’s lighter than air. In every way. Gravity doesn’t apply to her.
Who wouldn’t want to live with you?
I can’t believe I said that out loud. But it’s the truth. I turn and re-enter my apartment, a space that has been redefined with her presence. I run my eyes over the tongue-in-groove panels my grandfather measured and cut himself. I look down at the planks beneath my feet that he sanded, stained, and sealed.
If Evie is right… if Grandpa Pete came to my sentencing to… well… to be there for me…
I didn’t think about it at the time, but he must have known it would be the last he’d see of me. I swallow at the thought. I’d spotted him and Grandma sitting with Annie a few rows behind me in the courthouse when the bailiff had brought me in. Annie and Grandma Q had been crying. I only looked at him once, but Grandpa Pete’s eyes had been dry. Empty. I hadn’t been able to face him after that one glance.
But I also hadn’t been able to imagine it would be the last time I’d see him.
I look back at the small table in my apartment. Only the apple core and a few slices of cheese remain. She left the crackers and marmalade, and the sight of them makes me smile. I wrap up the leftover cheese, determined to have it for breakfast in the morning, and then I wash the dishes.
As I do, I can’t help but wonder what Grandpa Pete would think of the evening I’d shared with Evie in his old workshop. I roll the thought around in my head, seeing it from every angle. And I can’t find any from which he’d mind.
I’ve felt him in this space since the day I got out, but this is the first time that feeling hasn’t crushed me.
I brush my teeth and strip off my jeans and T-shirt. Before I turn off the light over the sink, I pick up the CD Evie left on the table, load it into the portable player on the bookshelf, and select Track 4. As Caleb Followill sings about how he could use “someone like you,” I replay the feel of Evie Lalonde in my arms and the sight of her sailing over a four-foot fence as if it didn’t exist.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
EVIE
“Where have you been?” Tori frowns and looks toward the back porch. She’s curled up on the couch with a copy ofSelfin her lap. “I heard you pull up a couple of hours ago. Have you been sitting out there this whole time?”
Gemini races up to me. I reach down to pet him, giving myself time to weigh my words. In all honesty, I’d hoped Tori would have been in her room when I came in, ignoring me as usual. I pat Gem on the rump and then follow him to the kitchen. This isn’t going to be pretty, but I’m not about to lie. Stalling while I feed the dog is all the reprieve I’m going to get.
I walk back into the den and meet her gaze. “I was at Drew’s.”
Her eyes bug. “What?! Again?” She slaps the magazine down onto the coffee table.
“Again,” I say with a nod, but I also can’t help crossing my arms over my middle. It’s a defensive gesture, I know, and I shouldn’t feel as though I have to defend myself. “I really like him, Tori.”
Disgust washes over her face. “You’ve got to be kidding me. So, what, you’re dating the ex-con now?”
Her question burns like acid. Not because of her tone and her intent to hurt me, but because I’mnotdating Drew, although I’d like nothing better. I’d also love to be able to tell my sister how much it hurts that he doesn’t want that. But I can’t share this with her either.
There’s almost nothing I can share with her these days.
Tori shakes her head. “I just don’t get what’s the matter with you.”
I hope with all my heart she can hear the love in my voice. “That makes two of us.”
She gives me a withering glare and then shocks the hell out of me. “You are the most selfish, self-absorbed person I’ve ever known.”
My mouth falls open. It’s like she’s slapped me. Selfish? I have no words. This is so much worse than calling me a liar. All I want is for the people in my life to be happy. To give them what they need. How can she not see that?
“Tori,whatare you talking about?” My throat has gone dry, so my words come out parched and feeble.
She stands, eyes blazing, shoulders rigid. “Oh, please, Evie. Are you really that obtuse?” she sneers. “It’s one thing to waste your family’s sacrifices by becoming a yoga instructor. But then to chase after anex-con?Well, that’s just an insult to all of us.”
If she’d struck me with a bat, I couldn’t feel more shocked. And wounded. “Tori… I don’t know what you mean. What… what sacrifices?”
Her glare singes my skin. “If you don’t know what I mean, you’re not only selfish. You’re stupid.”