How We Deal With Gravity(37)
“He didn’t say much. Said he knows he owes me a lot of explanations. Asked how Ray was doing. Asked about you,” she says, swinging her arm toward her friend, her voice shaking and growing weaker with every word. “He…he asked how Max was.”
That last sentence leaves her breathless. There are tears in her eyes again when she turns around, and I have to force myself to breathe slowly through my nose so I don’t smash a hole through the wall, or worse, race out to the parking lot and hunt Adam down.
“What a prick! Did you tell him he’d know if he had any clue what being a father was?” Claire fires back. Avery just shrugs, defeated, her body shaking more now.
“I didn’t say much,” she says, biting her lip, trying to conceal her disappointment in herself. I can feel Claire’s temper—and I love that Avery has a friend who’s so ready to battle for her. But right now, I think Avery needs to know she didn’t mess up…that it was okay to not have a knockout brawl with her ex in a parking lot. And I think if Claire keeps going, she’s just going to have Avery feeling worse. And I can’t have that.
“Well…” Claire starts, but I grab her shoulder, stopping her. She looks at my hand first, then her wide eyes flip to mine, and we have a silent conversation. She gets it, and takes a step back.
“He…uh. He wants to have dinner. I said that was fine. It’s fine, right? I mean, I should have dinner with him? See what he has to say?” she’s trembling the entire time, and her arms are wrapped around her stomach. I take my turn now, knowing that even if I’m not family, I’m needed. Avery needs me—she needs me right now.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I say, putting my hand on her shoulder, and the second I touch her, her eyes dart to mine with a look so desperate it breaks my heart. She’s terrified, and I would give anything to take that away. But I know I can’t.
“Right. It’s fine,” she nods over and over again, and I mimic her slowly.
“It will be fine,” I say, knowing that if it’s not—that if that f*cker does one thing, says one thing, to make Avery not fine, I will mess him up beyond recognition.
Chapter 10: Just Dinner
Mason
I went home with Claire and Avery. There was no way I could stay at the bar knowing what Avery was going through at home. I stayed in the kitchen and watched Claire work with Max, walking him through his folder from school, and explaining what homework is. She’s amazing with him—the way he responds to her. It’s hard to believe she’s working in a bar and not doing this—working with kids like Max—fulltime.
Avery keeps coming downstairs, asking us questions about what she should wear. She finally settles on a pink and yellow dress that ties behind her neck. It’s beautiful—she’s beautiful. And that dickhead Adam doesn’t deserve it.
Avery’s nervous—first-date kind of nervous. She’s sitting at the kitchen table with us, just chewing her nails, and watching the clock. She’s meeting Adam somewhere in town, not wanting him to come near the house—near Max—until she knows more.
When the time comes for her to leave, she stands and walks with Claire to the door, away from Max’s view, and gives her friend a hug. I stay in my place at the table, but I catch her eyes, and when I do, she keeps them on mine. I nod slowly, letting her know she can do this—she can handle whatever he throws at her. Her eyes are telling me she can’t, but I know she can. And I’ll be right here, waiting for her to come home.
I help Claire get Max ready for bed, watching her go through the list with him one item at a time—teeth brushing, pajamas, story time. I ask Max if I can read tonight, and he’s surprisingly okay with it.
“You have to read all of chapter eleven. That’s where we stopped; it was eleven. Make sure you read eleven,” he’s very insistent, and it makes me smile. I’m tempted to tease and start with chapter twelve instead, but I know Max isn’t someone you can do that with.
“Chapter eleven, The Rules of Gravity,” I pause for a second to look over the back and front cover of the book. It seems kind of advanced, and I look at Claire who just shakes her head and smiles, so I get comfortable on the floor next to Max’s bed and read on. “Gravity is a natural force that gives weight to an object. It is the force that attracts all heavenly objects to one another.”
I read three pages of something that feels more like a sixth grade text book, and I notice the few times I look up at Max, that his eyes are closed tightly, but his lips are saying the words along with me. I can’t help but smile at my inner thoughts; knowing how easy science is going to be for this kid. He may have so much to overcome socially, but hell…I would have given anything to understand half the crap I just read. And I’m twenty-five!
When I’m done, we shut off the light, and tiptoe the rest of the way out of Max’s door. Max isn’t asleep yet; I can tell he’s not. But Claire says he’ll lie there and pretend until he actually falls asleep—because that’s what he’s supposed to do.
“I’ll stick around, wait for her to get back,” Claire says, picking up our plates from the table, and cleaning up the kitchen from our small mess.
“You don’t have to. I mean…I’m not going anywhere,” I say, unable to hide the guilty grin on my face.