“You had enough to handle last night.”
My attention turned to Bastian, “Maybe we could stop by a grocery store after you pick me up from school?”
“Sure.”
Though it was the end of February, the weather warmed up as we made our way along the quiet country roads. With a day as glorious as this one, it was easier for me to push the ugly ordeal with Brad from my thoughts. I tilted my head back so I could look up at the sky—so bright a blue, with wisps of clouds that looked like white brush strokes across an azure canvas. Bastian was right, looking up into the vastness made you feel so small. It really did put things into perspective.
I squeezed his arm and signaled for him to pull over and as soon as he did, I climbed off. He shut down his bike and met my gaze with a look of concern. “What's wrong?”
“I think you should stay to finish out high school and be with me. I think we should march ourselves right into your parents’ home with Mr. Wright, my uncle and your brother and tell your parents as much. We should stand up to them and maybe with an audience they'll be less inclined to follow through on their threats. Damn it, Bastian, we need to live our lives and not the ones they're trying to force on us. What do you say?”
He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans with a smile. “I say you're fucking incredible.”
“Can you get out of the apprenticeship now and still be able to rejoin them in the summer?”
“Yes.”
“I want to walk down the halls in school holding your hand. I want to see your face at my locker. I want to secretly hold hands in English and share lunches together. I want to make love to you when the mood strikes. I want to laugh with our friends and go to parties. I want to live like a teenager while we are teenagers. Your parents have no right to take that away from us.”
“Agreed, but I have a confession.”
“What?”
“I wasn't going back. I had already decided to stay. The rest of my stuff is arriving today.”
My eyebrow rose slightly at that. “Really?” Tidbits of conversations with him and Dr. Wright popped into my head as I narrowed my eyes at him. “What did Dr. Wright say to you?”
He looked uncomfortable, “She told me she was glad that I took their advice and decided to stay, reminded me I was welcome to a guest bedroom and she let me know she cleared it all with the school. Since I've already taken all of my exams, I can basically audit all the classes.”
“When did you talk to her?”
“Repeatedly, since the day I left.”
“Fought harder.” I muttered.
“What's that mean?”
“Nothing, just an answer to a riddle. So you're staying. Are you going to stay at the Wrights'?”
“For the time being, yes.”
Joy filled me and I launched myself into his arms. When he pulled me close and held me there, yes, that was exactly what I was talking about.
***
As soon as we pulled into the school parking lot, the stares started. When we climbed from the bike and walked hand in hand through the doors, the whispers followed. Bastian walked me to my locker and on the way countless people welcomed him back. When we parted for homeroom, he kissed me long and hard right there in the middle of the hallway. After morning announcements, he was waiting for me and together we walked to English.
Kira was already seated next to Mica and, based on the look of her, she had heard about Bastian's return. My gaze met Mica’s and we shared a smile. After what she had done for me, clearly I had been wrong about her, but the same could not be said of Kira. The idea that she had been complacent with the Rosses' attempt to manipulate Bastian, particularly when she had feelings for him, stirred my temper. My voice was loud enough to carry, “Yes, he's back, and yes, he's still with me.” I leaned over so we were nearly touching noses. “So go ahead and run to the Rosses and tell them.”
Maybe it was wrong to find joy in her discomfort, but I did. Bastian spoke up from behind me. “Is it any wonder why I'm so crazy in love with her?”
He pressed a kiss to the side of my head before we took our seats, and for the first time in almost three months, I really enjoyed English class.
After school we were heading to Bastian's bike when he looked over at me and asked, “Do you mind if we detour to the garage?”
“Not at all. You want to talk with Caden?”
“Yeah.” Bastian stopped walking and turned to me. The look in his eyes surprised me, it was a combination of tenderness and pain. “Do you know about Caden's family?”
“He mentioned that they had died, but he didn't say more and I didn't want to pry.”
Bastian inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly, before he began. “Caden lost his family in a car wreck when he was younger. He was at a friend's house and his family was coming to get him so they could all go out for ice cream. A truck was going too fast to stop in time for a red light and hit them. His dad and mom were killed instantly, but his younger brother held on for a few days before he died. Caden believes it's his fault—if he hadn't been at his friend's or if he had said no to ice cream, his family wouldn't have been at that intersection at the exact time as the truck. And if that wasn't bad enough, he was placed in the system and moved in and out of foster homes.”
My heart constricted in pain just thinking of Caden taking responsibility for something he had no control over.
“I met him four years later, hanging at a field I used to sneak off to to practice soccer. I thought my life was bad, but he had bruises on him. Apparently his foster father liked taking out his frustrations on Caden. I sneaked him home, and with a house as big as the one I grew up in, and the fact that my parents never paid me any attention, no one ever knew. Well, our cook did, she started making larger portions of meals that Caden and I would eat in my room. We figured his foster father kept taking the money from the state and didn’t turn him in.”
“For a year Caden lived at my house, and when he turned sixteen, I asked Dominic to help emancipate him. We both got jobs with Cal, another former foster child.”
“Most people who meet Caden see a hard guy, and in many respects he is that now, but there's still that damaged fifteen-year-old kid in there. You saw that and even without realizing it you gave him the one thing he's still starved for, friendship and family. You did it for me too, Lark, you gave me what I've always been starved for: love.”
I wiped at my face with the back of my hand. “And you gave it right back to me.”
He kissed my forehead, his lips lingering a minute. “I didn't mean to make you cry, but I thought you should know about Caden. He doesn't talk about it, but I know he'd want you to know. He took to you from the very beginning—kindred spirits and all.”
“He lives alone in that little apartment.” I said.
“I know. Dominic offered him a room, but he's too proud to take it.”
“Dr. Wright adores him.”
Bastian's eyebrow rose in question, “Meaning?”
“I'll let her work on him. She's just as unhappy as me that he lives in that little hovel and as she's always saying, they've got more rooms than they could ever possibly hope to fill.”
Bastian laughed out loud. Then he reached for my hand and planted a kiss in my palm. His eyes were twinkling with humor. “Certainly not for a lack of trying.”
We stopped off at the garage and Bastian and Caden had a heart-to-heart which ended in a hug, and not a guy hug, but a real hug. When asked to come to dinner, Caden jumped at the opportunity.
We detoured to the grocery store. Shopping with Bastian and Caden, when they were both hungry, turned out to be dangerous. Watching the two of them going up and down the aisles of the store, dropping things into the cart, reminded me of the old eighties video game Pac-Man. Something I noticed about both of them, something I think was completely unconsciously done, was they were adding things to the cart for the family: a tub of Dr. Wright’s favorite ice cream, Poppy's favorite chocolate, several canisters of mixed nuts for Mr. Wright, Diet Coke for me.