Page 82 of Only You and Me

It’s like they forgot they’re not alone, so I clear my throat. When I look over at Trina, her eyes are narrowed and volleying back and forth between Emily and Fitz, her brow wrinkled. I swear she looks suspicious.

I feel a need to decrease the tension. “Geez, Trina. I bet nobody would have guessed we’d be the ones getting along tonight and these two would battle it out, huh?”

Trina ignores me.

“What did you two want to talk to me about?” she asks. She doesn’t take her eyes off of Emily and Fitz.

“Nothing. It can wait until another time,” Fitz answers.

CHAPTER28

TRINA

“Tell me the truth. Is the real reason you’re insisting on coming today because you’re worried about my stalker—who hasn’t made contact in over a week, mind you—or is it because you’re worried about Darren asking me out again?”

Ben takes his eyes off the road for a second to toss me an eye roll that screams ‘get real.’

“First of all, Darren and your stalker might be the same person, no matter what you say. And I’m tagging along for two reasons. One, I am still worried about your stalker, so I’m not going to sit on my ass at home while you tromp through the woods on the outskirts of the city delivering your plarning mats to homeless encampments. Especially since Darren will be there. And two,”—he reaches across the console of his dad’s truck, which he borrowed for today, and grabs my hand—“I want to spend as much time as possible with you when we’re off work. If this is important to you, then it’s important to me.” He squeezes my hand for emphasis, and my heart skips a beat or two.

“Oh,” I say, my voice hushed. My lower belly does a little flip-flop at his words. “I just hope you don’t regret it. It’s an hour’s drive to the city and then once we get to the encampments, the mats are heavy, so it’s usually several trips back and forth to the truck to lug the number of mats we need. So, it’s going to be a long?—”

“Trina. Stop, please. I want to do this. I promise.”

“Okay,” I whisper.

We drive the rest of the way to Meadow Creek Community Center, where we store our plarned mats between deliveries. When Ben pulls in front of the building, I do a double take at the scene unfolding before me.

“What the… Did you do this?”

Standing outside the community center is my family—my chosen family. Emily, Fitz, Annie, Jack, Finn, and Shayna.

“Nah. Wasn’t me, not really. It was you. Well, you and the fact that our friends are nosy as hell, and we all know each other’s business most of the time.”

“Me? How me?”

“Well, Mom and I were talking about it in the kitchen as we were making family dinner last weekend,”—I flinch at the reminder that, though Ben has invited me every week, I’ve yet to go—“and Shayna walked in and overheard. Then she told Annie and before I knew it, everyone was so impressed that you’ve been doing this for years, never tooting your own horn, and wanted to help. The rest is history.”

“W-we never have this much help.” I swallow past the lump in my throat, touched by the gesture my friends are making by coming today.

“C’mon, let’s go out there and say hi to everyone. Okay? Then you get to boss us all around for the next few hours since you’re in charge. I know you’ll love that.”

I glance over at him, and he’s grinning as he gives me a playful wink.

Still stunned that they’re all here, I realize that all this time I probably just needed to ask for help and this amazing group of people would likely have been more than happy to chip in. As simple as it may seem, it hushes that voice deep inside me that’s tried to convince me for years that I have to do everything myself. That I can’t rely on other people.

When Ben and I get out of the truck and walk over to our friends and family, they’re all smiling. There’s not a single person who doesn’t look happy to be here. I swallow past the lump in my throat and thank them all for coming. Then, in my awkwardness, I do what I do best. I compartmentalize what needs done and start directing everyone, handing out assignments so we can load up and move out.

I’m not great at expressing feelings, but if they could see inside my heart, they’d see it overflowing with surprise, happiness, and love for them all.

When we’re ready to load the mats, I’m excited that we have several trucks here because it means I can take more mats than usual. No one will have to go without if there are more people living in the tent city than I expect. I nearly break down in tears when I learn that the boxes in Finn’s truck bed contain large plastic storage bags stuffed with new socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hand sanitizer, and granola bars, courtesy of Finn and Shayna’s kids—Jessi and Tommy. Apparently, they wanted to help, so Shayna came up with this idea and the kids helped fill the bags.On top of that, Emily and Fitz have packed bagged lunches to hand out.

By the time we’re loaded with everything, no other volunteers have shown up. It’s fifteen minutes past the deadline that all the usual volunteers—which aren’t many—know to arrive by. Ben makes a comment about Darren not being here and I don’t tell him that twenty minutes ago,

I saw Darren drive by slowly, look at where our group gathered, and then drive away. It makes no sense to me. Surely Darren would appreciate all the extra help since we usually have minimal, if any.

Once we get to the city limits, we stop at the largest encampment I’m aware of. Ben and Jack insist on walking with me when I trek back into the woods to let the people living there know that we’ve arrived. There are usually six people who stay here, but today the number has grown to ten. Suspicion is clear in the narrowed eyes of those who are new.

Just as I’m about to introduce myself to those I don’t know, a familiar face on a mountain of a man comes into view.

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