The Problem with Forever(67)

She stood, balancing her bowl in one hand as she walked over to it. Picking it up, she looked over her shoulder at me, her dark eyes glimmering. “Mallory, this is really good.”

“Thank you.”

“All of the carvings are good, but the details on this?” She carefully placed it back on the dresser. “It’s amazing.” She returned to the bed and sat. “I really wish you’d reconsider trying it out on wood. Carl still has the tools in the garage.”

I wasn’t really a fan of power tools.

She swallowed a spoonful. “Carl wants to take us out to dinner Saturday night, for a more official celebration.”

Suddenly, the ice cream turned sour in my stomach. “I’ve made plans with...Ainsley for Saturday.”

Excited didn’t even capture how Ainsley felt about finally meeting Rider. My IM had started blowing up when I’d told her the good news after school, and she was probably still sending me OMGs even as I sat there stuffing my face.

“Oh! That’s right.” In went another spoonful. “How about Sunday, then?”

I nodded, but my stomach was still twisting. “Um, Rider...” My mouth dried as Rosa lifted her chin. “Rider wants to meet Ainsley on Saturday.”

Her spoon clanged off the bowl. “He does?”

I nodded. “I would...I would like them to meet.” The skin around her mouth tightened. When she didn’t respond, I grew concerned. “Is that okay?”

Her shoulders rose. “Yes. I think so.”

Think?

“So, what are you guys going to do on Saturday?” she asked.

“Ainsley and I are going to lunch, and that’s where Rider will...meet her. Then Ainsley and I were planning to see a...movie in the evening.”

“Sounds like a long, busy day.” She swiped the spoon around the inside of her bowl. “You don’t think you’ll have homework this weekend?”

I shook my head as I placed my bowl on the nightstand. My stomach was a pretzel now.

“Carl isn’t exactly going to be okay with you spending your free time with Rider,” she said, and I might’ve stopped breathing. “He was the same way with Marquette,” she added with a sad smile. “Now, I think it’s a good idea for your two friends to meet, because both of them are important to you, but it’s also important that we meet him.”

Oh no.

“So I think we should meet him before Saturday. That will probably go a long way to alleviate Carl’s concerns, and, well, mine, too.” Her gaze met mine. “So that’s the deal we’re going to make. You want to see Ainsley and Rider this weekend, then he needs to come over for dinner on Friday. Both of us will make sure we’re home.”

Oh, my.

Oh, my, my, my.

“Okay?” she urged.

I nodded and said, “Okay,” because what else was there to say? I had no idea if Rider would even be okay with that, and now I was thinking I really shouldn’t have told her about my Saturday plans.

A beep radiated from the pocket of her sweats. Leaning to the side, she pulled out her pager. I’d only seen Carl and Rosa use them. It was weird, seeing doctors use what seemed like an obsolete piece of technology. She grabbed her cell out of her back pocket and called in.

“Dios,” she murmured, rising immediately after she finished the quick call. “Can we hit Pause on our conversation?” she asked, frowning. “I hate to ask this, but I’ve got to. I have a gunshot victim coming in. Looks like a young kid.”

I nodded. “It’s...okay.”

Rosa leaned over and kissed my forehead. She was out of the bedroom and out of the house in under two minutes. I hoped she had a successful surgery. Losing patients wasn’t easy on her, and in this city, it happened far too often.

I picked up my phone as I heard the front door close. I typed out the text that made me feel like I did right before I gave my speech earlier.

Carl and Rosa would like to meet you Friday for dinner.

There. There was no other way I could say it, so I hit Send.

Taking my bowl downstairs, I found hers on the kitchen counter. I washed both out and then placed them in the dishwasher. By the time I went back upstairs, there was a text from Rider.

Sounds cool. Let me know the time.

Holy crap.

Sounds cool? A smile raced across my face as I texted back a quick okay. He disappeared from the convo while I washed my face and when I returned, the text he’d sent created a flutter deep in my chest.

Looking forward to it.

I wasn’t quite sure about it.

In the middle of the night, I heard Rosa come home. I crept to the top of the stairs and listened to Rosa and Carl talk about her patient. The kid was thirteen. Shot twice. Once in the chest and the other in the back. Rosa had been able to repair the damage to the chest, but the spine was done. She disappeared into the library, and I knew she’d stay there until morning with a bottle of wine. She didn’t take losing patients well, and even though this one hadn’t died, the outcome still affected her.

Thirteen. And this kid wasn’t ever going to walk again.





Chapter 20

Watching Rider give his speech on Friday was like tuning in to my favorite TV show. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew I was going to enjoy the view. He showed up to speech class at the last possible moment and then delivered his informative speech on different types of art like it was no big deal. He was smooth and almost a little careless, grinning on and off throughout it, but he appeared happy as he spoke. Rider knew his art and he was good at doing this—at standing in front of the class and effortlessly keeping everyone’s attention.