Page 56 of No Place Like You

“You mean the Indominus rex?”

She throws her hands in the air. “To-may-to, to-mah-to.”

“I can stay the night so Charles can go home,” I offer, still not wanting to leave.

“They probably won’t even let you stay once visiting hours are over,” she says glumly. “We got kinda lucky last night. I think they felt bad for the sad-looking cancer patient with an even sadder-looking boyfriend.”

“Still,” I offer. “We can stay until they kick us out.”

She shakes her head. “Seriously. Go home, get some sleep, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I finally give in and stand, leaning down to place a small kiss on Janet’s forehead. Lucy steps in front of me, hugging Janet before we both turn to leave. We exit through the same way we did the night before but without the fear and anguish I had then. It almost feels like a different lifetime. Like everything heavy and scary was temporarily placed in a box and shoved in a corner. And I know deep down I’ll have to eventually unpack that box, reopen it, and place its contents back into the corners of my life where they’re meant to be, but for now, this feels nice.

27

Lucy

Dexter and Imake it back home, this time opting for a cab instead of the nine-mile walk to his apartment. Dexter leaves to get takeout—more Thai food—realizing the hospital food ran through us pretty quickly, and I hop in the shower. I take my time, shaving parts of me that were growing prickly and scrubbing my skin using the small sample jar of watermelon sugar scrub I save for special occasions. I deep condition my hair and exfoliate my face. I’m not expecting anything. At least, I shouldn’t be. Whatever happened with Dexter earlier, it wouldn’t be smart for us to move things further. I’m leaving soon, and it would make things so complicated. Worst case scenario, we’d resent each other, hating our predicament and, in the end, each other. Best case scenario, we’d break each other’s hearts.

So maybe this level of pampering is more to give me time alone to think about me and Dexter instead of preparing for…more complications.

When I walk out of the bathroom, Dexter’s already back. He’s at the kitchen counter, two plates in front of him and multiple open to-gocontainers. His focus is on transferring the pad thai noodles to the plates. He moves the bean sprouts I usually pick out to his and adds the extra servings of shrimp to mine. There’s already a serving of fried rice on the plate that’s mine and white rice on his. He moves to the larb, scooping a healthy serving onto my plate and a small scoop to his, right next to the bean sprouts he removed from my plate. He digs into the paper bag and unwraps a set of chopsticks. He separates them, rubbing them together to remove all the splinters, and turns to open the fridge door to retrieve a fresh Coke can for me along with a bottle of beer for himself.

My heart soars just then. I could really fall for this man. I really could. I could risk it all, my heart, my sanity, all for the sake of this feeling. Having someone in my life who takes care of me the way Dexter does.

He looks up and sees me standing there, just watching him. He smiles a small smile and waves his hands in front of him proudly. “Dinner’s ready.”

I nod. “Thank you.”

“Do you…want to eat in awkward silence or watch another episode of the Winchester brothers take on more demons?”

“I could use some awkward silence to wind down,” I answer.

He chuckles, pulling out a stool from under the kitchen counter. We both sit in the dim kitchen lighting and eat in silence, minus the awkwardness. Because it isn’t awkward between us at all. Whether we’re swapping stories from our childhood or sitting quietly, comfort and ease seem to be a consistent norm between us.

“Uh…” Dexter’s gruff voice cuts into the silence. “Have you booked your flight yet?”

I look up, twisting the chopsticks in my hand. “For Hawaii?”

He nods, and I shake my head. “But Nat sent me the hotel stuff. I’m going to stay in her room until the wedding, so I guess my room situation is settled.”

“I—did you, like, want to fly outtogether?”

I look up at him to see his gaze focused on his food. His hair hangs off his head, and his brow is drawn up, making his forehead wrinkle. He pokes at his food, moving it around instead of actually eating it. His throat bobs, and his lips twist to one side. Is he nervous? Maybe worried I’ll say no? Or maybe he’s scared to discuss the future, whether it be travel plans or us.

“Um, yeah,” I answer meekly.

“I mean, if you don’t want to, or if the timing isn’t right and you need to go back home early or?—”

“Dexter,” I interrupt. “We’ll fly out together.”

He lifts his head and peers at me with cautious eyes.

“I checked my schedule with the internship and the wedding, and it looks like I’ll be done with the internship a week before the wedding,” I explain. “So, I mean, Icouldgo home, but it wouldn’t be worth the flight just to fly out again a few days later.”

“I guess we’ll look into some flights then.” A smile lifts the corners of his mouth, and I smile back before we continue to eat in silence.

He opens his mouth again. It looks like he wants to say something else, maybe some more details about which airline we should book or what strategy we’ll use so we don’t show up at the hotel at the same time. But instead of saying something, he lifts his beer to his lips and takes a long pull. I hear the liquid glug into his mouth, and the bubbles in my drink fizz inside the aluminum can. Somewhere in the distance, I hear music thumping through the walls of the apartment and a car honking its horn.

---