Terrified (52 page)
“You’ll make some time to get together with Dan, won’t you?” she asked, pausing at the top of the steps outside.
Josh nodded. “I’m seeing him next week. We’re going fishing off his dock. Don’t worry about it, Mom. I like him.”
He meant it, too. How could he not like the guy who had sprung him from the back of that smelly U-Haul? Still, Dan was one reason why things would never be the same. His mom had found somebody. Dan had been in the hospital for over two weeks, recovering from two bullet wounds—the one in his thigh had him still limping a bit. Since his release from the hospital, Dan had been spending more and more time with them.
Josh watched him climb out of the driver’s side of the idling Accord. Dan looked up at them, and Josh waved from the top of the steps.
“Dan, honey, could you give us a minute?” his mom called down to him.
“Take your time,” he said. “See you next Saturday, Josh!” He ducked back in the car.
His mother squeezed his arm as they walked down the steps to the driveway. “I’m going to miss you so much, sweetie,” she said. Then she hugged him. “I love you… .”
“I love you, too, Mom,” he replied in a raspy voice. He didn’t want to cry in front of her again and make her feel any worse. With a smile plastered on his face, Josh pulled back a little and opened the passenger door for her. “You—you better get going. You don’t want to piss them off by being late your first day there.”
Through her tears, his mom let out a little laugh. She kissed him one last time, and then climbed into the car.
Josh shut the door, and stepped to one side. He held on to the handlebars of his bike, and watched the car back out of the driveway. It slowly started up the street.
Then Josh decided it was okay to cry.
Dan had done everything right. He hadn’t uttered a word. While she sat across from him sobbing, he kept his eyes on the road. But every once in a while, he reached over and stroked her arm reassuringly.
They turned down Eastlake. Drying her eyes with another tissue, Megan rolled down her window and took a deep breath. “Thanks, Dan,” she said, her voice scratchy. “I’m glad you’re getting together with Josh next week. It means a lot to me, but I—I hope you don’t feel obligated to do that.”
“Well, I want to do it,” he said, glancing at her. “So don’t worry. I like him.”
“He said the exact same thing about you a few minutes ago,” she replied. The cold air through the open window felt so good on her face. She sat back and gazed at Dan’s handsome profile. She remembered when she’d started with Matefinder, a bunch of the responses she’d gotten had been from men in jail. They’d asked if she could keep in touch while they were still
inside
, and wanted her to wait for them. The irony of it didn’t escape her now.
inside
, and wanted her to wait for them. The irony of it didn’t escape her now.
Megan sighed nervously. “So—it’s going to be nine months to a year, honey. Do you really want to wait for me?”
They came to a stop light. Dan turned to her. “You bet I do.” He kissed her on the lips, and for now, it seemed to make everything all right.
Megan smiled. “That’s good, because I’ve waited for you my whole life.”
As they started moving again, she caught sight of something in the car’s side mirror. About half a block behind them, Josh was madly pedaling his bike along the shoulder of the road.
She put a hand on Dan’s shoulder. “Wait, could you slow down?”
The speedometer on his car dropped to twenty. Megan stuck her head out the window, and she looked back at Josh.
He stopped by the curb and waved at her. Even in the distance, she could see he was smiling. She realized that was all he wanted—just one last look and one last wave.
Megan waved back at him.
“Should I pull over?” she heard Dan ask.
“No, it’s okay now, keep going,” she said.
They took a curve in the road, and she couldn’t see Josh anymore. Megan sat back and stared at the road in front of her. She remembered when Josh had been a toddler in day care while she’d worked at the law firm. At the time, she’d been so miserable, missing all those amazing milestones of his young life—the first steps he took on his own and
How big is Josh?
How big is Josh?
It was hard to think of that as fourteen years ago.
She glanced down at the scar on her finger, like a pink ring. But it was healing, and didn’t hurt anymore.
Megan knew it would be a while, but they’d come out of it okay.
Hell, she’d been through worse.
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