Page 26 of Stay With Me
She brings the pizza to her mouth and takes a bite. As soon as she starts chewing, I know we have a winner. The corners of her lips tip up, and this is probably the happiest I’ve seen her so naturally.
Tonight with her has been amazing. She opens up a little more every day, and while we have a long way to go, I know she’ll be just fine, even if Luna worries she won’t be.
“What do you think?”
“This is delicious! I believe I like pizza!” she tells me right before she takes another bite.
Smiling, I start to eat my pizza when I remember I wanted to talk to her about meeting our friends.
“So, Jess, I was thinking that I want to take Luna out to dinner.”
“Um, okay? Why would you go out for dinner when we have dinner here?”
“Well, when you like someone, sometimes you do things just the two of you, and I was thinking that since you met Luna’sfriends when you all went to the park for a picnic, maybe one weekend we can have them and three of my friends over so you can meet them. Then when I take Luna out to dinner, maybe you can hang out with one of them until we get back?”
I watch her closely. I don’t know if I’m going about this the right way, but I want to make sure she’s not caught off guard when we do have a sitter. So maybe talking about it early and a little bit every day will help?
Adding that to my mental list of things I need to talk to the therapist about.
Her shoulders tense. “You won’t be gone forever. You will come back?.?.?. right?”
A pit grows in my stomach as I close my eyes briefly and take a deep breath. “Of course, we’ll come back. We’ll always come back to you.”
Her shoulders relax a little, and my heart breaks at the thought that she thinks we’d leave her behind.
“As long as you come back, I’m okay with meeting your friends.”
“Cool. Now eat up so I can show you the game I was talking about.”
She smiles softly at me and quickly finishes everything on her plate. We clean up together, and I set some pizza on a plate for Luna to heat up when she gets home.
I walk into the living room and turn the TV on. “Let me introduce you toMario Kart.” Handing her a controller, I give her the instructions.
Not much could make tonight any better. Now I just need Luna to get home so I can tell her how I really feel.
THIRTEEN
Noah
“Alright,kid,it’stimefor bed.”
During the first couple of rounds ofMario Kart, she struggled with the buttons, but since I picked the same map every time, she picked up on the mechanics after a few games.
“Awww, already?”
“Yeah, your sister will be mad that you’re up this late. The game is always here, so we can play whenever.”
“Do I have to play with someone?”
“No, you just have to make sure your homework is done and that someone is around until you know how to set it up.”
“Yes, sir,” she says with a smile.
I know Luna is worried that she might not do well with all the changes in a short amount of time, but I don’t think she realizes how well she did when she had to navigate everything on her own. The difference is that Jess is in a healthy, supportive space and won’t feel like she has to be on the run.
I grab the controllers and dock them on the charger as Jess heads off to her bathroom.
When I check my watch, I see that I have about thirty minutes before Luna gets home. Doing a quick cleanup, I hear the water shut off in the bathroom and yell down the hallway, “I have your water bottle filled up and ready to go.”
