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“I can honestly say I wouldn’t have. I made fun of her in what I thought was a funny way because I was an idiot. No way in hell I ever wanted to see any harm come to her. Or anyone.”
“But you hurt her.”
“Yeah, I did. If I could have looked past my own inner turmoil, I would have seen that back then. Daring someone to jump into shallow water, though? That’s insidious. I can’t tell you how sorry I am you lost Quinn that way.”
“I’m sorry too. I wish I’d been older so I could have known her better. We all thought we had time. Even though our family deals with death every day, it was a surprise when it touched us.”
There wasn’t much more to say after that. We sat with Solomon for a while, watching the water stream by and patting our borrowed dog.
On the way back to the car, I knocked into Reed with my shoulder. “What happened to your Andes vest?”
His breath hitched and he swallowed hard. “I, uh—can you not tell Daisy?”
“I can’t make that promise until I know what happened.”
“I just don’t want her to worry. She worries enough.” He sighed, his hand tightening around Sol’s leash. “A couple idiots from school noticed me wearing it all the time and just took it—slipped it right off me and trashed it. They poured milk on it, ripped it, stomped on it, spit on it, then they gave it back.”
Anger boiled in my gut. I’d been afraid something like this had happened, but to hear him casually describe these kids taking an item of clothing off him and maliciously ruining it made me want to do violence. I’d been a prick in school, but nothing I’d done had ever come close to that.
“Give me names, Reed. I’ll take care of it.”
He shrugged. “They left me alone after that. Guess they didn’t like me having something I was proud of. I don’t know.”
“I’ll get you a new one. If you don’t want them to see you in it, you can wear it on the weekends.”
His head was bowed, but I saw the smile hinting at the corners of his mouth. “That might be all right…”
“It’s done.”
Daisy rarely squealed, but a napping, dirty Sol curled up in the backseat of my rental got her going.
“Miles! I love him. What did you do?” She couldn’t tear her eyes off him.
“We borrowed him for adventures.” I draped my arm over her shoulders and looked at the muddy dog like a proud dad. “Reed and I hadn’t been counting on Sol becoming our bestie today, though.”
“How could you have looked at that weirdly shaped body and pretty face and not known you’d get attached?” She shook her head. “He’s perfect asleep. I’m sure he’s even better awake.”
“Now, we have to take him back.” Reed peered down at him through the open door, filled with regret. “He’ll hang on to the happiness.”
He turned back to me, and I nodded in confirmation. We loaded Sol and ourselves up. Reed had unloaded a lot of what he’d been holding in, trusting me to take it, and despite how tragic his revelations and been, he was lighter now. I could almost see his spine straightening and his shoulders leveling out.
Made me feel really good to have done that for him.
From the brow she raised, Daisy must’ve noticed too.
“He’s good,” I mouthed.
She mimed wiping her forehead with the back of her hand and mouthed back, “Phew.”
When Solomon woke a minute later, raring to go, Reed took him for one last walk, giving me a chance to fill her in.
I leaned against the SUV, and Daisy leaned against me. “You guys had a good day, huh?”
“Something about this place.” I gave her a soft kiss. “He told me about Quinny.”
Her mouth formed a little O. “What did he tell you?”
“About the bridge. That your parents don’t know if she was pushed or jumped.”
