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If I survived the night without sporting an obvious hard-on, it would be a damn miracle.
Chapter 14
Michael
“Well,wouldyoulookat that!” my dad exclaimed as we drove past the “Welcome to Hart’s Ridge” sign.
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye while still keeping most of my attention on the road. “What?”
“The sign. It’s new, isn’t it? It wasn’t there last week. They put in a new slogan and everything.Leave your heart in Hart’s Ridge.” He shook his head. “What does that even mean?”
My chest cramped. I had noticed the sign, too, when I first got back a month ago. “It’s not new, Dad. They put it up a year ago.”
We were on the way home from Asheville, where Dad had suffered through his first psychiatrist appointment. It had gone surprisingly well, which made this moment all the more painful.
“You remember, dear,” Mom piped up from the back seat.
Another reminder of how much he had changed. The Dad I knew would never have put Mom in the back. But this afternoon he had jumped into the front seat without even opening the door for her first. She hadn’t complained, but still. It wasn’t like him.
“It was all part of Mayor Andrew’s plan to reinvigorate the town and get more tourist dollars,” Mom continued. “It was after that girl on TV—the one with the funny family—stopped here for lunch. Remember? They spruced the place up a bit, came up with that new slogan, andTraveler Magazinenamed us America’s Cutest Town.”
“MayorAndrews?” Dad looked aghast. “Jeremiah Andrews? That shithead? How’s he going to perform his duties as mayor from jail?” His voice got progressively louder with each word.
“Not Jeremiah,” Mom said complacently. How she kept her patience was beyond me. “Emma Andrews. The shithead’s daughter. Although, I never thought he got a fair shake, you know. Anyway, he’s out of prison. Has been for about two years now.”
I choked on air at Mom’s use ofshithead. My eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. She winked. The tightness in my chest loosened a smidge.
“But Emma’s just a child.” Dad sounded lost.
Just like that, the pinched feeling in my chest was back. Emma and Suzie were the same age. They had grown up together, and they were still close friends. And sure, she was the youngest mayor the town had ever had, but she was a full-fledged adult. Hell, Suzie was on her fourth kid. Emma hadn’t been a child in more than a decade.
My dad’s mind was somewhere in the past. He couldn’t seem to hold onto the present. And there was nothing I could do about it.
“Should we stop for lunch?” I suggested. “How about Dreamer’s?”
“I think I need a rest,” Mom said.
I looked at her again. She tilted her head meaningfully toward Dad, indicating he was the one who needed a rest. I nodded. “Yeah, okay. Some other time.”
“Leave your heart in Hart’s Ridge,” Dad muttered. “Doesn’t make a damn bit of sense, does it? You can’t live with your heart cut out. And what the hell are we going to do, with bloody hearts strewn everywhere?”
“It’s supposed to be cute, not literal,” I said.
He gave me a look and that look was pure Dad. Maybe he didn’t remember the town getting a new sign, but he still knew how he felt about it. That was one thing, at least, I would put good money onnotchanging. So I laughed long and hard.
What else could I do?
Twenty minutes later I sat alone in my apartment, phone in hand, studying the calendar. There was a red circle around today’s date, and a note about the therapist. Two weeks from now Dad had an appointment with a specialist at Johns Hopkins in Maryland. Getting him there and back again would be a pain in the ass, but it would be even worse if my mom had to do it alone. We were running out of time.
Seven weeks. That was all I had left. After that, they were on their own. Suzie would do her best and Sam would pitch in where he could, but with a newborn at home and another three kids besides that to care for, there was only so much help they could offer.
I had been telling myself three months since I arrived, but that time was nearly half gone. The weight in my chest grew heavier. I counted the weeks again, just to make sure I hadn’t missed one, and then closed the calendar with a grimace.
So now what? I had expected to be with my parents all day. Maybe I should call Suzie, see if she needed me. Instead, I found myself scrolling to Nora’s name. Then I hesitated, my thumb hovering over the button. I shouldn’t. It would be stupid to call her. What would I even say?Hey, I feel sad. Please give me sex.
No. That was pathetic. Anyway, she was at work and she couldn’t just leave because her not-a-boyfriend needed comforting.
I shoved my phone in my pocket. Moping around my apartment wouldn’t do any good. Anyway, there wasn’t any food here. I had a craving for Nora and yuca fries, and since I couldn’t have Nora, the yuca fries would have to do. Luckily, Dreamer’s Café was only a block away.
