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“Beats me. I guess I have a few things to take care of. Starting with breaking off things with Becca. I can’t be in a relationship with someone I don’t even know.” My mouth was dry. The more I talked about any of this—about stepping into someone else’s life and making changes I wasn’t sure he would have—the more anxiety I felt.
“You mean you can’t just like, fall in love with a stranger like in the movies?”
We stared at each other before the both of us burst out laughing.
“I mean, I get it,” he said with a chuckle. “But to be honest, it was headed there before all this even happened.”
Ralph, for all his roughness around the edges, was keener than I thought.
Dexter
Changing Dexter’slife for the better shouldn’t cause you to feel any guilt. He’s gone.
I blinked my eyes open. I was remembering something—the tail end of a conversation, like I was walking away while someone was still speaking.
I shook my head to clear the words that weren’t mine. Regardless, I did feel guilty. I didn’t know what plans Dexter had made with Becca. She seemed pretty invested. After storming out of the room, she came back, apologized, and left before Ralph could drum up a joke at her expense.
My aunt spent the night last night, curled up in a chair.
I looked over at her, the morning sun now catching her hair. Her hand was tucked under her chin and she seemed to be frowning in her sleep. The door opened, and I was greeted by a face that was slowly becoming familiar.
“Morning, handsome. How was Carla?” Sessie entered the room with an energy that seemed to be charged by the sun.
“She was nice. But I still prefer you,” I said as she took my blood pressure.
She was silent for a moment as she listened, her eyes on the wall behind me. As soon as she pulled the stethoscope from one ear, she smiled again. “Compliments this early in the morning? I could get used to that. How’s the pain today?” Her eyes looked me over, checking the bandages on my knee.
“I’m fine.” I glanced over at my aunt.
While she had only changed her position slightly, her eyes were open, watching the interaction between me and Sessie with a small smile on her face.
Sessie’s eyes followed mine. “Oh, you must be sore, Ms. Andrews. Didn’t Carla bring you a blanket?”
My aunt sat up, blinking, then shook her head. She reached up to smooth her hair down.
“Well, next time let me know when you’ll be staying and I’ll bring you a cot and a blanket,” Sessie said with a smile. Always smiling. “Now, Dex, breakfast should be here soon. I was told you may be leaving tomorrow. While it breaks my heart to see you go, I know you have plenty of other hearts to break outside these walls.” She winked before saying she’d be back to check on me in a few hours, then left and closed the door gently behind her.
“Good—”
“So—”
My aunt and I laughed together at the awkwardness between us. Her laughter seemed forced, but I didn’t care. It was better than all the crying she’d been doing.
“Go ahead,” I offered, adjusting myself on the bed.
“Oh, no. I was just going to ask if you needed anything else.” She ran her fingers through her hair again, her gaze meeting mine after a moment.
I couldn’t continue on with this conversation until I knew our past—how she felt, and what I’d done. Or, what Dex had done.
“Was I very bad to you?” I asked her.
Her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly. “I mean, you were going through a hard time. I made mistakes. We both did. But you’re eighteen, Dex, so I understand when you take your frustrations out on me. Sometimes the hardest part about being there for someone is having to love them through their worst. I didn’t mind being your punching bag—emotionally, of course—because, at the time, you needed to lean on me.” She walked across the room and sat at the foot of my bed. “Don’t ever feel bad about that. You have enough to feel bad about as it is.”
“I feel like…I don’t even know how to explain it, really. But I think this is a new beginning for me.” I couldn’t take back all the bad Dex had given her, but I could change it going forward.
If I could change Dexter’s life in a way that made things better, I couldn’t feel guilty for it. If I was going to do this seriously—find her, the one I came back for—I had to do it right.
“I’m breaking up with Becca,” I said, looking up at my aunt, trying to gauge her reaction. It was a moment of truth for me.
