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“Get my game back,” he says.
“Get your life back.”
His blue eyes light up. He pulls me to him, lifts me up in the air and swings me around. “Yes!” He kisses me and I’m reminded why I’m playing hooky. Because when Dylan McAlister kisses me my lips tingle, my cheeks flush, my body bathes in stardust after a meteor shower blows through. When Dylan McAlister kisses me time stands still.
What I’m going to do without him when this crazy ride is over?
***
13
Memphis
MEMPHIS
I finally tell him a little about Mom on the plane. About her mental condition. That she’s had it a for a long time and it’s tough, but she’s making headway because of this new treatment. How Ruby and I are trying to support her.
“Not easy, Evie,” he says.
I nod. “I know. But she’s doing better. Turning a corner.”
“Not easy for you either.”
“Thanks. Enough about my exciting life – let’s talk about you!”
“Let’s not,” he says. “Tell me more about you. School. Friends. What you want to be when you grow up.”
“I have a Master’s in Education. I have friends at the Agency, pals on my softball team. What I want to be when I grow up? I’m not sure.”
“All that education and you don’t know yet? Pick the first thing that pops into your head.”
“I want to be, hmm — I want to be someone who puts her own needs first every once in a while.”
“That’s not what I thought you’d say.”
I’ve never been to Memphis and I’m kind of excited about it until we arrive. Turns out Memphis is simply another airport, another ride sharing service, another motel. I shower, dress, and apply makeup in front of the bathroom mirror. I can’t wait for Dylan to kick ass tonight.
We talk about meditating and I show him how to do it. Getting quiet, going still, can actually change the structure of the brain and thicken areas that deal with learning and memory. It can still the chatter, reduce anxiety, and reboot the brain. It’s like taking a chill pill without the pill.
I’m crossing my fingers that Dylan will tune into his feelings and together we’ll figure it out. He’ll get his mojo back and turn his game around. Then we can see each other, meet up on paid engagements. I can still pay for Mom’s medical treatments, help Ruby out with school, and keep a roof over my head. He and I are a team. If he gets his shit together we can do this.
I fashion my hair into a messy bun, apply a coat of lipstick and check the mirror. I’ll pass. “Ready.” I walk into the room.
Dylan’s half naked on the floor doing pushups.
“Hello?” I say. “What are you doing?”
“You said that you controlled your empathic reactions with exercise,” he says, sweat glistening on his bare shoulders, that muscle ticking in his jaw.
“Yes. Sometimes.”
“If I get the blood flowing maybe I can get more in control for the game,” he says, straining his breath.
“That’s not how it works.” I sigh. “It’s about letting go. Finding the calm when you’re hurtling through the storm.”
“Thank you, Obi Wan Kenobi,” he says, and knocks out one armed push-ups, grunting on the exhalations.
“Fuck you, Rocky,” I say when my phone pings. “Shower and get dressed. I’ll wait for you outside.”
