“I’ve wanted to do that for weeks,” she admits.
My eyes widen. “You have?”
“I’m not gay either,” she teases. “If we’re clarifying things.”
I grin as she twirls a strand of her red hair around her finger. She sits back against the couch but winces.
“Are you okay?”
Gingerly, she touches her side. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“I really wish?—”
“Key.” A warning in one word.
With a sigh, I nod. “I’m not trying to save you or be a hero,” I start, “but if you ever need me to . . . I’ll fight for you.”
She smirks. “With these noodle arms?”
Poking me in the bicep, I laugh but grab her hands. “Seriously. I never know when I’ll see you again. What if I don’t see you because . . .” The words get caught in my throat. “Because something bad has happened to you.”
She touches my cheek. “Nothing bad is going to happen to me.”
I raise my eyebrows and glance at the spot under her shirt where the bruise is. She shakes her head.
“He doesn’t mean to,” she admits. “Sometimes I just get in the way, or mouth off. He doesn’t always know his own strength when he’s been drinking.”
“Dusty—”
“And yesterday, his friend from work was over. I guess he thought I was flirting with him or something, because he tried to—” She stops. “Anyway, when I told my dad, he said I shouldn’t have been wearing that skirt.”
“Hewhat?” I cry.
“Then I shouted back, and he didn’t like that?—”
“Dusty!”
“If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll keep my attitude to a minimum, okay? I won’t give him any reason to punish me.”
I cover my face with my hands. “None of those things should have ever happened. It’s not your fault. You know that right?”
She shrugs. “I know guys look. I know what they say. Can guess what they’re thinking.” She glances at me for just a second. “My mom always told me I should feel lucky. That at least I have a pretty face because I wouldn’t amount to much else.”
“That’s . . . awful.”
“It’s the truth,” she says.
“No, listen. Dusty, look at me,” I say, grabbing her hands and pulling her to face me. “Youarebeautiful. But you’re also so much more. You can be anything—doanything you want. Promise me you’ll remember that, even if you’re gone.”
She nods. “Promise.”
But even with her word, some dark feeling creeps its way up the back of my neck. Ominous and terrifying. “What should I do if you disappear again?”
She sighs and rests her head on my shoulder, her hand clasping mine in my lap. “Just know that I’ll always come back for you. As soon as I can. However long it takes. I won’t forget about you.”
My stomach twists. She doesn’t even try to convince me she won’t disappear.
“Would you ever forget about me?” she asks, lifting her head to glance at me with those diamond blue eyes.
