Page 24 of My Return to the Walter Boys
By Wednesday evening, the move was official.
I spent Monday and Tuesday packing and hauling the majority of my belongings from one side of the house to the other, but even though Katherine rearranged the furniture and managed to squeeze an extra dresser into the room, there wasn’t enough space for all my clothes. After paring down my wardrobe, I was allowed to keep what didn’t make the cut at the back of my old closet along with Lucy’s nail polish collection.
Other than losing my privacy, I thought the worst part of the situation was the old bunk bed George pulled out of storage for Parker and me to share. Then Cole arrived with all his boxes. Watching him empty them in what had been my refuge in the Walter household, the thought of him sleeping in my bed, felt wrong somehow.
On top of everything, Cole had spent the past two days pretendingI didn’t exist. Whenever we passed each other in the hall, he kept his gaze locked straight ahead as if I was invisible. If I walked into the same room as him, he made a point to leave. And the one time I tried to start a conversation with him? Cole glanced at me with emotionless eyes, then looked away without saying a word.
Trying to fall asleep was impossible. I tried to blame my restlessness on Parker’s night-light and the monstrous snoring I could hear through the wall we shared with Lee, but the truth was my mind wouldn’t slow down. I kept thinking about Cole. How confusing it was that he was suddenly here instead of leaving for college or the way his expression closed off when I told him the timing still wasn’t right. I made the best decision for myself, but my thoughts kept returning to how good it felt when he pulled me into his lap and kissed me in the dark of his car.
After tossing and turning for over an hour, I threw off my covers and decided to make Katherine’s favorite remedy for insomnia—a glass of warm milk and honey. I nearly tripped at the bottom of the stairs when I noticed a light on in the living room; for a split second, I thought I would find Danny watching one of his favorite crime shows, but then I remembered he was all the way in New York. A lump lodged itself in my throat. While I was happy he’d taken to city life like a duck to water, I missed his easy companionship and our late-night chats. We grew closer over the summer, and while Nathan would always be my best friend among the Walters, Danny had become my brother.
I poked my head around the corner to see who was awake andgrinned. Nathan was stretched out on the couch, one arm tucked behind his head and a bag of cheese puffs on his stomach. The TV was on to a rerun ofJeopardy!. Withdrawing to the kitchen, I quickly made my drink and returned five minutes later with a steaming mug in hand.
“Scoot.” I pushed his feet off the end cushion to make room for myself, but once I sat down, he stuck them on my lap. “Is that really necessary?”
He smirked and wiggled his socked toes. “What? I was here first.”
“Fine, but if I have to put up with your smelly feet, then you have to pay a cheese tax.”
Nathan handed the bag over. “Can’t sleep?”
“Not at all.” I took a heaping handful of cheese puffs before passing them back. My mom had refused to keep junk food in the house, so when I first arrived in Colorado, I’d gone a little wild, trying all the options Katherine stocked her pantry with. These were by far my favorite. “It’s weird being in Parker’s room.”
“Who is Howard Garns?” Nathan muttered, eyes locked on the TV. Then he glanced over at me and said, “I can’t believe you agreed to move in with her.”
“You and me both,” I told him.
“So why did you?”
“Cole provoked me,” I confessed, heat staining my cheeks. On screen, the Daily Double was revealed.
“Into giving up your room?” Nathan asked. “How’d he pullthatoff?”
Instead of answering, I stuck out my tongue and snatched the cheese puffs back.
“If you’re gonna eat the entire bag, the least you can do is fill me in. What happened with you two? And don’t say nothing,” he added before I could protest. “I saw the way he glared at you during dinner Sunday night. He’s been avoiding you since.”
I stuffed a handful of cheesy goodness into my mouth to avoid answering. To tell him or not? The situation was messy, but if there was one person in the house who would listen without bias, it was Cole’s mini look-alike, ironic as that was. “Okay,” I said after swallowing, “but only if you tell me what’s going on with you.”
Nathan stilled. “What are you talking about? I’m fine.”
“Really?” I tossed a cheese puff at his face. “That’s strange, because you haven’t joined me on a single morning run since I got back. What’s up with that?”
“Oh crap!” He scrambled into a sitting position, eyes wide and regretful. “I’m so sorry, Jackie. I totally forgot.”
“Aboutrunning?” That didn’t make any sense. Nathan had cemented his morning exercise routine long before I moved to Colorado.
He shrugged. “It wasn’t the same without you, so I decided to take a break.” His expression was apologetic, and maybe he truly was, but something about Nathan’s words didn’t ring true. He was lying, but about what and why, I wasn’t sure, so I decided to let him off the hook for now. Hopefully he would open up to me when he was ready.
“Well, your vacation’s over.” I brushed the cheese dust off my hands, unfurled my legs, and stood. “I’m going back to bed. See you in the morning.”
“Wait, weren’t you going to tell me about Cole?”
I flashed him a cheeky grin. “I’ve decided to withhold that story as incentive. If you really want to know what happened, then I better see you on the porch at our usual time tomorrow. Only running buddies get classified information.”
***
“Breakfast?” I asked when Nathan and I crested the final hill of our run. The house came back into view, backlit by the rising sun.
