She wrapped her arms around me.
“Why are you thanking me?”
“For seeing all this and still being willing to give me a chance.”
She looked up from my chest, eyes locking onto mine. “Darren and the SEALs…” She paused like she did every time she talked about him. “They had a saying: ‘All in, all the time,’ and I guess it stuck with me. If I put my foot into something, I’m not going to walk away from it without a damn good reason.”
I kissed her because it was so beautiful. Her words. Her heart. Her soul. I made my own promise to her. All in. All the time. For as long as she’d let me.
Tristan
THE GOOD ONES
“He's the T-shirt that I'm wearing
He's the song stuck in my head.”
Performed by Gabby Barrett
Written by Landis / Barrett / McCormick / Kale
Once I told Hannah we werehaving a sleepover at Brady’s, she giggled and flung herself into his lap. “Where are we going to sleep?” she asked him.
He cleared his throat. “Well, my room is actually over the garage. Would you like to see it?”
She nodded.
We said goodnight to his family, and he led us out the back door to the stairs hidden by a tall fence. The stairs weren’t visible from the street, and I realized how perfect this place was for Brady to hide out. I instantly regretted the thoughts I’d had about it seeming juvenile for him to be staying with his parents. It wasn’t juvenile at all. It was self-preservation. Survival.
The apartment was pretty bare: a couch, a small kitchenette with two stools at the built-in bar, a ginormous TV, and musical instruments, including a saxophone, a guitar, and a keyboard that Hannah went running to as soon as she was inside.
“This is way bigger than mine,” she said.
“Well, I’m way bigger than you, so that seems fair.” Brady smiled at her. “Let me get you something to sleep in.”
He walked into the bedroom, and I followed. This room was as bare as the other one. A double-sized bed with a plain comforter. A dresser with nothing on it but the trunk my grandmother had given him. I swallowed hard at it.
“Have you opened it?” I asked, trying not to choke on the emotion of the question.
He saw my glance at the box and nodded. “I did.”
“Was it like Pandora’s box?” I tried to tease.
His hands in the dresser drawer stilled as he turned to take me in. “You know, in some ways, it was.”
What had my grandmother put in there? How did it affect me? Because Brady’s look left no doubt that it had in some way. I looked away from the gaze, unsure what to feel, because whatever this was between the two of us was already precarious.
He pulled out two T-shirts and a pair of sweats. “Everything will be huge, but it’ll at least be more comfortable than jeans.”
I agreed. I took the clothes and called Hannah. “Come wash up,Chiquita.”
She came running into the room, taking it in with a small frown before saying, “Brady, your room needs help.”
A deep chuckle broke from inside his chest that I couldn’t help joining in.
“It really does,” he said. “And now that I’m planning on being here more than I was before, maybe you can give me some ideas.”
“You definitely need a lava lamp!”
