Just before they rolled me out on a stretcher for X-rays of my ribs, I looked back at Nate, and he gave me a sad smile and waved. His eyes looked pained, and I wanted to reach out for him, but I didn’t.
“Are you okay?” Felix said as I answered the phone before I could even saw hello. I rolled over on my side and winced, immediately rethinking the move. I managed to push myself up to sit against my pillow on my bed.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for all the fallout.”
I smiled. It was good to hear his voice. “Where are you? It sounds echo-y.”
“I’m at the retreat center.”
“What?!” I sat up straight, yelping over my rib. “You’re already gone?”
“Yes, I got whisked away on Friday. We left right after school.”
“I didn’t even get to say goodbye,” I said, tearing up with a definite shake in my voice.
“I know, doll. I miss you already. You know I would have it go this way.”
“Well,” I sniffed, “how is it?”
“It’s not terrible. Everyone seems to be really nice. It’s like being on a really condescending vacation with strangers.”
“Sounds pretty terrible to me.” I wiped my face.
“I’ll be able to call you in the evenings.”
“Please do.”
“Miss you, AB. You’re the best.”
“Just come back to me, Felix,” I said in a completely melodramatic Southern Belle voice.
“I shall return, my love, whence forth I came.”
We both about died laughing, which hurt, and I fell over on the bed from the pain.
“I didn’t do that right,” Felix said as he tried to stop laughing.
“It hurts to laugh. You gotta stop.”
“It’s lights out anyway. I gotta go. I love you, Avery Brave. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Love you too. Bye, Felix.”
I want to flop back dramatically, but I had ease myself gently against the pillows with a sigh, and it didn’t have the same effect. Felix is gone. Just like that, he’s gone. He’d be back, I knew, but I already felt lonelier without him.
11.
WITH GREAT STRATEGY, THE QUEEN CAN MOVE ABOUT THE BOARD AS SHE PLEASES.
I skipped the game that night for obvious reasons. I stayed in bed most of Saturday, and Mom even let me stay home while they went to church on Sunday, which was a small newsworthy miracle in and of itself. I missed Felix already, but I knew I’d talk to him that night.
I called Sylvie. “How are you?” I asked, concerned.
“I’m glad it’s over.” She sounded drained but peaceful.
“How did your parents take it?”
“They were furious at me, devastated about the baby, and grateful to you.”
“I’m sorry, Sylvie. What’s going to happen?”
“They are moving me up to my aunt’s in Maine. She’s single but well connected, and they think that, if I get a change of pace and remove myself from all of this, then maybe I can still get into the school I want.”
“Wow. How do you feel about that?”
“It’s not what I want, but they made some good points, and I think I’ll maybe, if I get out of here, I might be able to forgive myself.”
We talked for a while longer, and I expressed my gratefulness for her courage.
“I am sorry we were never friends, Avery Brave. And I’m sorry I was never nice to you, and I’m sorry for everything you went through with Ace. I wish you all the happiness. You deserve it.”
“You too, Sylvie.”
After we hung up, I managed to come downstairs, though I winced in pain with every step. Mom had a roast in the oven that I could smell, and I figured she’d pass out if I set the table while she was gone, which would be fun to watch, so I did. Until there was a knock at the door.
Still a little shaken, I paused with a knife in my hand and contemplated taking it with me to open the door, but I set it down and went into the foyer to open the door. I could see Nate’s height and his dark hair through the designer glass.
I took a deep breath. What was he doing here? I open the door halfway to keep out all of the morning stickiness.
“Hey,” he said before I could even get anything out.
“Hey,” I answered.
We stood there staring at each other for what must have been a whole minute. I replayed Friday’s events, something I’d been doing since they’d happened. I wondered if he was doing the same. Do boys even do that? I wondered.
“What are you doing here, Nate?”
“I just wanted to come check on you.”
“You could have just texted, you know.”
“I know.”
I felt the realization rise in my cheeks, which hurt on the bruised side. He wanted to see me. “I’m okay. I’ve got a rainbow face, and my ribs are all wrapped up, so I don’t move too much. But other than that, I’m okay.”
“So, going wake boarding this afternoon would be out of the question?” he said, smirking at me.
“Um, maybe I could just take that rib out and go,” I teased back. I had been kind of wrong. Things hadn’t completely changed. We weren’t at school—we were at my house—but still, not everything had changed.
He took a step closer and reached for my cheek, barely brushing it with his fingers. “Does it hurt as bad as it looks?”
“Oh, thanks…,” I said, joking, but he furrowed his brow at me.
“Don’t,” he said almost crossly. My cheeks flushed again. I had no idea how to be with this Nate. He wasn’t angsty or angry.
“Sorry,” I said, surprising myself. “It is pretty tender.” I remembered how I’d looked in the mirror this morning, seeing the purple under my eye swirl with a green and yellowish shade all the way to my jaw line. “I always have bruised easy, though.”
“Have you heard anything about anyone?”
“I just talked to Sylvie. She’s okay. But I haven’t heard anything besides that.”
Nate was still standing close, looking down at me, but then he ducked his head slightly as he said, “It’s funny how a kiss started this whole mess, but it’s the only thing I can think about.”
“A kiss didn’t start this. Ace has always been…” I trailed off as he reached for my hand.
“What I was trying to say was…it’s interesting that one of the things that finally brought Ace in was you. You’re like his kryptonite or something—and, I can’t quit thinking about kissing you. And I think I’d like to do it again.”
I wished there was an “off” button for the flush in my cheeks; it was definitely on repeat. He was so close, towering over me; all I had to do was look up, and I was sure he would kiss me again. But the moment was lost as my parents pulled up in the driveway.
As I closed the door behind me so they wouldn’t think we’d been in the house alone, he whispered, “Maybe later, then.”
It sent a shiver up my spine that I had never experienced before. He let go of my hand and began crutching toward the garage. He was going over to talk to them? I followed in disbelief.
My father was first out of the car with a pleased but surprised look on his face, which made me wonder if he’d taken his blood pressure medicine this morning.
“Avery, is this the boy that saved you?” he said, heading straight for Nate though looking at me. I assumed he had forgotten him being here the other night.
Nate extended his hand to my father. “We took him down together, sir.”
They shook hands, and my father patted him on the back as my mother joined them with her purse on her shoulder and her thick Bible cradled in her arms.
“Won’t you join us for lunch, Nate?” Mom’s accent drew out his name like a cat purring. I hadn’t even had a chance to tell them about the kiss yet, but judging by their hospitality, they may not overreact after all. I wasn’t sure any of us was ready for me dating again, but as I watched my parents and Nate walk up the front st
eps, I realized I may have been wrong.
“Thank you, Mrs. Nightingale. I’d love to.”
Before we went inside, Dad grabbed my elbow, so I hung back with him a little. He wrapped his arm around me, and I put mine around his waist.
“It’s not right to celebrate his consequences, but I did hear that they’ve actually charged Ace. They are serious charges, and he’ll most likely get tried as an adult. He’s getting justice. You are getting justice. Sylvie is getting justice. I don’t want to celebrate it, but I am relieved, and I knew you would be too.”
I sighed, hugging him as tears of relief fell down my freckled cheeks. Thank you, God.
“Why don’t you kids take your pie on the porch?” Mother suggested. Dad smiled at me and waved us off. We took our plates and went out on the “front porch,” as mother called it, though it was more of veranda or a small country in and of itself. I led us to the swing that my mother insisted on even though it required at least forty feet of rope just to hang the thing. But it did make for a nice place to sit next to Nate.
“So…,” I started, wanting to ask the obvious question, “what made you want to meet the parents and stay for lunch?”
He took a bite the size of Texas and then smiled. “One of the guys bet me that I couldn’t get invited to lunch at the Nightingales’.”
I elbowed him in the side. “I’m sure that is not on the top of the dare list,” I joked back. He almost choked on his next bite of cherry pie. I slapped him on the back jokingly until he could take a deep breath. He laughed deeply, and it was a sound I wished I could record.
He still hadn’t answered my question. I took a bite of my pie and then set it aside. Mother loved cherry pie; I preferred apple.
“I got to thinking that I wanted your parents to know that I wasn’t just some guy. And even though I have been here a time or two before, it was always related to articles or whatever you want to call what we all did. A case?”
“Are you not just a guy?”
He set his pie aside and put his arm on the back of the chair. “I know I have been. But what if I thought I didn’t want to be?”
“Not be just some guy?” I repeated him even though I’d heard him the first time. Loud and clear. “I…would need to think about it.”
“I can handle that,” he said, taking his arm off the seat behind me and leaning forward on his knees. I wasn’t the nuzzling sort, but I realized when his arm was practically around me that there was a niche that was the perfect size for me right under his shoulder. I hadn’t been in it, but I realized it was there, and now, it was gone. He looked contemplative for a moment and then looked at me from the side. “Is it because of me or Ace?”
I looked away, feeling the tingle in my nose and silently cursing myself for suddenly sprouting tear ducts in the last month. I looked out toward the yard, still wet with dew even though it was noon. I said, “Ace,” but I couldn’t bring myself to look back at him.
It was quiet for a while, and we could hear the cicadas out already today, creating a pulsing rhythm from the trees.
“I haven’t really dated anyone besides Ace,” I forced myself to explain. “He—”
“You don’t have to tell me yet if you don’t want to.”
I caught my breath on his “yet” and suddenly felt brave enough to tell him, knowing his “yet” meant he wasn’t going anywhere. “You know most of it, I suppose, indirectly. He fooled us all. My parents. Me. Everyone. He appeared ideal.” I paused, choking down the lump in my throat.
So many times last year, I had tried to tell the truth, but no one would listen. I had told Felix, and the truth came easier now, but I felt nervous to let Nate in.
“He pressured me to have sex,” I said, clearing my throat after I said it as if the words themselves irritated my throat. “He pressured me often and not very nicely. It started small. A grab that was too tight. A slap that was immediately apologized for. I got good at covering for him. No one would have believed me anyway. A good Christian boy would never hit a girl. But the night I caught him with Sylvie, he started going berserk and beating me. I tried to get away, but he threw me down the stairs.” I let out a long breath. “That’s the gist,” I said softly.
Nate sighed and hung his head, shaking it. Was he disappointed in me? Would he change his mind?
“I remember his family made him untouchable,” he said.
“Yep. We pressed charges, but they didn’t stick. And turns out Hickham played a part as well.”
“Son of a—”
“Don’t.” I put my hand on his forearm. “He’s not even worth it. Even at the beginning of this year, I would have said that I wanted God to open the earth and have the kraken eat him or something gross, but this whole ordeal has made me realize that he may not pay for what he did to me, but what he did to Sylvie was worse. And I’d rather her get the closure that she needs than me.”
Nate opened his mouth the say something, but his phone rang in his pocket. He mouthed “sorry,” and I got up and walked over to the front steps to let him talk. When he returned, he apologized again. “I’m sorry. This is literally the worst timing. My mom needs me for something. I’m sorry I have to leave. I don’t want to leave. Can I come back later?”
“Umm,” I said, feeling shocked at his response, “sure, it’s fine.”
I wasn’t masking my disappointment well. What happened to his ‘yet’? The certainty that he wasn’t going anywhere came crashing down. Had I done something wrong? Was he judging me for what happened with Ace? Had he changed his mind about me? Was he just uncomfortable hearing about it?
I thought all of this but said none of it. Nate excused himself to say goodbye to my parents, who I’m sure were sitting at the table pretending not to be keeping an eye on us. When he reappeared, he promised to call before he returned, which I thought was thoughtful and polite, unlike what he’d done earlier, which was just show up at my door. Which I secretly liked. But I probably shouldn’t tell him that.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, dear?” Mother asked, worried about my still-healing ribs.
After Nate had left, we’d just sat on the couch together, and I had explained everything that had happened—from the assistant principal to Felix to Nate. And now, I just wanted to slip beneath the water for a minute and relax in the soundless cool fluidity. “I just want to get in; I’m not going to swim laps.”
My father chuckled and kissed me on the head. “We’re going to bed. Enjoy the pool. Thanks for telling us about Nate. We like him. Just take it slow. We love you.”
“Thanks, Dad. G’night, Mom,” I said as hugged her around her thin waist, and she kissed my cheek.
We hadn’t always been so close. There was a time I was too afraid to tell them anything, especially the truth, but that had all changed when Ace and I broke up. Now, I was grateful that I could tell me parents anything, even about a boy kissing me or my best friend being sent away.
I continued to think about how much things had changed between my parents as I slipped into my suit and grabbed my towel. Turning off lights as I went through the house, I turned on the pool lights and the party lights that Dad had installed last summer. The pool was warm but still somehow refreshing in the heat. I waded out till the water covered my stomach, and then I carefully sunk down beneath the water, feeling enveloped, overtaken by the cool depths.
I held my breath and relaxed, slowly floating back to the surface. I desperately wanted to swim, but I know I couldn’t stretch my side out enough when even reaching up to brush my hair had felt impossible. I floated in the surface with relaxed limbs and stared up at the stars that were still visible past the party lanterns’ glow.
With my ear just below the water, the cicadas were slightly muted—and so was my phone that was ringing on the lounge chair. The sounds blended together beneath the water, and I didn’t distinguish between the two. But then, I heard a truck door shut. Trying to stand upright again felt like thrashing, but I finally got out of the pool and
grabbed my towel.
Reminding myself that Ace was currently in police custody and I had nothing to be nervous about, I cautiously peeked my head through the gate, my wet hair dripping on the walkway. It was Nate’s truck. His eyes widened as he saw me at the gate sopping wet, wrapped in a towel. But his shock dissolved into a smile that sent an electric pulse through my heart that I knew was dangerously close to pleasure.
“I thought you were going to call,” I half-whispered.
“I did,” he said, coming so near that I could smell his cologne. He’d showered recently, which caused me to wonder what he’d had to go do all afternoon.
“Oh,” I said softly, “I guess I didn’t hear it when I was in the pool.”
He looked at the towel. I felt my face blush. Maybe I should go change, I thought even as my legs felt as if they were turning to cement.
“How’s your rib?”
“Oh. It’s okay.”
“Is it bruised too?” he asked.
I pulled my towel barely to the side, open just enough to show him the nasty purple swirl that almost looked like a bad tattoo on my side, seeming to connect my swimsuit bottoms with the top.
He clenched his teeth; I could see his jaw muscles grind as he stared at my side. I closed my towel, and he looked up to my uncomfortable expression. He was both worried and protective. I could see it in his brow.
“Maybe I should go change.”
He didn’t want me to—I could feel it—but he said, “Okay.”
I pulled my hair around over one shoulder and wrung the water out. “Stay right here,” I said as I turned to go inside.
But Nate grabbed my arm before I could walk away. “Wait.”
As I turned around, he was close. Too close. I was suddenly very aware that I was in a bathing suit and a towel.
“Nate, I really should change.” I remembered the pleasure in his smile and the electricity between us.
The Nightingale Files : The Rook and Queen Page 16
