Role Playing(92)

“I’ll fix it,” Davy said, sounding a little more panicked. “I’ll get her to apologize.”

“I need time,” Aiden said, even as he thought There is no fixing this.

“Maybe she’ll change her mind,” Davy pressed. “Dad did.”

“She was right. Dad was dying.” Aiden shook his head. “But it did feel good there, for a while. The acceptance. Even if he didn’t really understand.”

They were quiet for a long moment. “Are you really leaving Fool’s Falls?” Davy asked. “That’s a big decision to make spur of the moment.”

Aiden closed his eyes for a long second, thinking about it. “I need a little time on that too,” he answered slowly. “I didn’t mean to stay here this long, but it seemed like Mom needed me, and things just got worse, and I just . . . I don’t know. Settled? Hid? It was nice to feel needed, and I guess I hoped things with Mom would change, but they didn’t. I miss the west side. I mean, I had some trouble feeling like I belonged over there . . . but I fit in more.”

“But what about Maggie?”

“I’m going to talk to Maggie,” he said. “We’re new, and I’ll be honest: I want to be with her.”

“Enough to stay?” Davy looked desperate.

That was the question, wasn’t it?

“Enough to talk to her about it,” he answered, then gave Davy a hug. “I’ll call you next week, okay?”

Davy squeezed back, harder than he had in a long time. His eyes were shiny by the time they broke apart.

“Love you, Aiden,” Davy said in a broken voice.

“Love you too.”

Aiden drove home carefully, thoughtful as he navigated the familiar streets. The thought of moving was strangely exciting, freeing. He hoped things were going better with Maggie. And he hoped that she’d be open to listening to him—and not retreating into pain because of her asshole ex-husband’s unexpected return.





CHAPTER 39


THE DOG WAS THE MASTERMIND


Kit was waiting for her, his hands stuffed so deep in his sweatshirt pocket that it tugged his neckline. In a different frame of mind, she’d tell him to stop, tease him for stretching out yet another collar. But now, she could barely talk to him.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Kit said, and the words tumbled out like rice from a broken bag. “I didn’t want to upset you. Dad can still be a dick, but he seems to have turned around a little, and I . . .”

“What did he mean, you were scheming to get me a social life?”

He finally pulled a hand out of his pocket to tug at the roots of his hair, making it stick up like a cockatoo’s crest. Ordinarily, she’d tease about that.

Not today.

“I . . . may not be as socially hopeless as I’ve let on,” he said.

“Clarify, please.” She was proud that her voice stayed even.

He reddened. “Um. Well. I wasn’t lying, per se. I did have a rough start, and it was hard to get out and meet people. And I dragged my feet when it came to joining clubs and stuff, and I didn’t meet anybody in my classes.” He paused. “Until about a month in.”

“Ah.”

“But we had this RA that was a total douchebag,” Kit said, his words picking up speed, all but tumbling out of his mouth. “Total power trip bullshit, and he’d try to punish us for doing stuff that was fine, like using the kitchen, and he got the microwave taken away, and it was this big pain in the ass. So I, um . . .”

She waited. Kit was the type that couldn’t stand squirming in silence.

“. . . I sort of started a bit of a revolt?”

She blinked.

“My roommate, Toby, is pretty cool, and he was complaining that they couldn’t do that. So I figured, you know, we just needed to approach it with logic.” Kit was shoving his hands in his pockets again, trying to look innocent and failing miserably.

She rubbed at her temples, even as she found a small glimmer of amusement. “Pranks, I take it?” She knew Kit’s MO. When he’d had teachers who had been sexist or racist or just pricks, Kit figured out ways to torture them without getting anyone in trouble. She’d tended to turn a blind eye.

Sure enough, his flush deepened. “Just little ones,” he quickly said. “We . . . may have sneaked into his room and done the zipper trick.”

“Zipper . . . ?”

“Where you crimp two-thirds of his pants’ zippers halfway with a pair of pliers,” he clarified. “So they aren’t able to zip or unzip completely or easily. But just a bit, so it’s not noticeable and doesn’t seem to be malicious.”

She shook her head.

“A few other things too. Nothing horrible. Broke the filament in his lightbulbs, so it seemed like he couldn’t keep a lamp lit. Got his personal email and signed him up for a bunch of stuff. Mostly annoying . . . and comprehensive. You know how I do.” His grin was evil. “By the end of the semester, the guy was running around like he’d lost his mind.”

She sighed, sitting down on the couch. Kit immediately sat next to her.

“I wouldn’t have even gotten into it,” he said, “but the guy was giving a really hard time to the girls across the hall from us, especially Dana.”