Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)(65)

"You need some help?" I ask her. She's only got one good arm, but she seems to be adjusting pretty well.

"Nope. I got it." She brings her plate into the living room and sits down in the floor. We all stare at her when she takes a huge bite of a chicken strip.

“Oh my god it’s so gooood,” she says. She shoves the rest of it in her mouth.

“Kiersten, that’s meat. You’re eating meat,” I say.

She nods. “I know. It’s the weirdest thing. I’ve been dying to come over here since you guys got home so I could try some.” She takes another bite. “It’s heaven,” she says with a mouthful. She hops up and walks to the kitchen. “Is it good in ketchup?” She grabs the ketchup and brings it back to the living room and squirts some on her plate.

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Lake asks her.

She finishes chewing and swallows her food. “Right when we were about to be hit by that truck….all I could think about was how I was about to die and I’ve never tasted meat before. That was my only regret in life.”

We all laugh. She grabs the chicken off of my plate and throws it on her own.

“Will, are you still coming to dad day Thursday?” Caulder asks.

Lake looks at me. “Dad day?”

“I don’t know, Caulder. I don’t know if I feel comfortable leaving Lake alone yet,” I say.

“Dad day? What’s dad day?” Lake asks again.

“It’s father appreciation day at our school,” Kiersten says. “They’re having a luncheon. Kids get to eat lunch with their dad’s in the gymnasium. Mom day isn’t until next month."

“But what about the kids who don’t have dads? What are they supposed to do? That’s not very fair.”

“The kids that don’t have dads just go with Will,” Kel says.

Lake looks at me again. She doesn’t like being out of the loop.

“I asked Kel if I could eat with him, too,” I say.

“Will you eat with me, too?” Kiersten asks. “My dad won’t be back until Saturday.”

I nod. “If I go,” I say. “I don’t know if I need to go, though.”

“Go,” Lake says. “I’ll be fine. You need to quit babying me so much.”

I lean forward and kiss her. “But you are my baby,” I say.

I’m not sure which direction it comes from, maybe all three, but I’m hit in the head with french fries.

***

I help Lake into the bed and pull the covers over her. “You want something to drink?”

“I’m fine,” she says.

I turn off the light and walk around to the other side of the bed and crawl in. I scoot closer to her and put my head on her pillow and wrap my arm around her. Her bandages come off at her next doctor’s visit. She’s so worried about how much hair they had to cut. I keep telling her not to worry about it. I’m sure they didn’t cut much, and the incision is on the back of her head so it won’t be that noticeable.

It hurts if she’s not lying on her side, so she’s facing me. Her lips are in close proximity to mine, so of course I have to kiss them. I lay my head back down on her pillow and brush her hair behind her ear with my fingers.

This entire past week has been hell. Mentally and physically. But especially mentally. I came so close to losing her. So close. Sometimes when it’s quiet, my mind wanders to the possibility of having lost her, and what I would have done. I have to keep reeling myself back in. I keep having to remind myself that she’s okay. That everyone’s okay.

I didn’t think it was possible, but everything Lake and I have been through this entire past month has somehow made me love her even more. I can’t even begin to imagine my life without her in it. I think back to the video Sherry showed me, and to what Jim said to her.

“It’s like you came along and woke up my soul.”

That’s exactly what Lake did to me. She woke up my soul.

I lean in and kiss her again; longer this time. But not too long, I just feel like she’s so fragile.

“This sucks,” she says. “Do you realize how hard it’ll be sleeping in the same bed with you? Are you sure he specified an entire month? We have to retreat for a whole month?”

“Well, technically he said four weeks,” I say, stroking her arm with my hand. “I guess we could stick to four weeks since it’s a few days shy of a whole month.”

“See? You should have taken me up on the offer when you had the chance. Now we have to wait four more weeks!" she says. "How many weeks is that total?”

“It’ll be sixty-five,” I quickly respond. “Not that I’m counting. And four weeks from today is February 28th. Not that I’m counting that, either.”

She laughs. “February 28th? But that’ll be a Tuesday. Who wants to lose their virginity on a Tuesday? Let’s make it the Friday before. February 24th. We’ll get Kel and Caulder to stay with your grandparent’s again.”

“Nope. Four weeks. Doctors’ orders,” I say. “We’ll make a deal. I’ll get my grandparent’s to watch the boys again if we can make it to March 2nd. The Friday after it’s been four weeks.”

“March 2nd is a Thursday.”