Page 96 of The Gathered Fragments of Us
"No, no scarring. But you might have some interesting tan lines for a while, and you'll want to stick with cool showers." I opened the aloe gel and scooped some onto my fingers. "This might feel cold at first, but it'll help with the heat."
The moment the aloe touched her skin, Macy sighed with relief. "Oh wow, that feels amazing."
"Right? Nature's air conditioning." I worked the gel gently across her shoulders, careful not to press too hard on the moretender areas. "So, tell me about this weekend. Your grandma told us some of the highlights, but I want the good stuff. What was your favorite part?"
Macy's face lit up. "Probably the pottery place. Aunt Gladys took us there the other day, and it was so cool—you get to pick out whatever you want to paint, and they have like a million different colors and brushes and stamps." She gestured excitedly with her hands, then winced as the movement pulled at her sunburn. "I made you and dad something, then I did something little for my mom, but I also made this really cool bowl for my room. It's purple and blue with these swirly patterns."
My breath caught at the mention of her mom. I wondered to myself how we were going to talk to her about all of this stuff. I can't imagine she has any idea of the consequences that Jessica is going to have to face. I don't even really understand what her home life was like—how long all the issues were going on and what it was like to live with Jessica. So much that I'm sure her therapist will work through with her. I filed my thoughts away to talk through with Caden and probably with Dr. Chen.
"That all sounds beautiful. I can't wait to see."
"Angie tried to paint this super detailed flower on her plate, but she kept messing up and getting frustrated. Alex just painted his entire plate black and called it 'his expresionisticism.'" Macy giggled. "I told him that wasn't a word, but he was so sure and the lady who worked there said 'art is in the eye of the beholder,' which I don't really get, but Alex nodded along like he did, so I guess it makes sense."
I laughed, smoothing more aloe along her shoulder blades. "Alex has always marched to his own drummer. Remember at Christmas when he decided to wear that suit jacket with his pajama pants to dinner?"
"Oh yeah! His 'formal lounge-wear!'" Macy dissolved into giggles. "He's so weird, but like, in the best way."
"Exactly. Weird in the best way." I moved to her other shoulder, working the cooling gel into the heated skin. "What else did you do?"
"Yesterday we went hiking and then to the beach, and then to the park today—I think that's how I got this sunburn. Aunt Gladys said the trail was mostly shaded, but there were these big open meadows where we stopped to eat lunch and look for wildflowers." Macy's voice took on the animated quality it always had when she was truly excited about something. "We found this stream that had these tiny fish in it—like, seriously tiny, maybe an inch long—and we spent forever trying to catch them with our hands."
"Did you succeed?"
"Definitely not me—since I have the cast on, I could only do one hand, but it was fun to try, and the fish felt all funny when they swam through my fingers." She was showing me how she tried to catch them—jutting her hand into the bathtub like there were fish in it. "Oh! Angie almost caught one! But it was really hard, and it got away. Alex claimed he caught three, but I think he was teasing because I never saw them." She shifted slightly so I could reach a spot near her shoulder blade. "Oh, and Alex had a tick on him! That was scary. And gross!"
"Oh no! Did you check yourself?"
"Grandma did. She said I was good."
Ticks give me the heebie-jeebies. I needed to move on before I started unreasonably searching her bags, clothes, and hair—I completely understand it's not a thing, but there's just something about ticks that make me lose my damned mind andautomatically begin to spiral. Ticks, bed bugs, and lice—oh my God, I need a new topic to think about before I go insane.
Relief washed over me when I heard Macy continue, "then we went to the beach, obviously." She gestured to her sunburned state. "Grandma Sandy packed this huge picnic, and we built sandcastles and played with a frisbee. Well, tried to play with it. Turns out none of us are very good at it. Have you ever played with a frisbee? It was my first time, and you only need one hand, so I didn't have any issues throwing it. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of running since the wind kept sending it all over the place."
"I have played frisbee. It's been quite a while though. I'm glad you had so much fun!"
I reached for the jar of body butter, warming some between my palms before applying it over the aloe. "This will help lock in the moisture and start the healing process."
"It smells really good. Like... sweet maybe?"
"That's probably the coconut oil." I worked the cream gently into her skin, watching the angry red fade slightly under the nourishing oils. "Did you miss being home at all?"
Macy was quiet for a moment, considering. "A little bit, I guess. But not in a sad way."
"Well, we definitely missed you too."
"Really?"
"Really. Everything was so quiet. And there was no one to help me make fun of your dad when he did something funny."
Macy smiled at that. "I'm glad I went, though. It was fun to hang out with Angie and Alex, and I don't get to see them very often. Plus, Aunt Gladys taught us this card game called Spit that'sreally fast and crazy. We played it for like two hours yesterday morning. It was a little hard to move really fast with the cast on, but I got the hang of it."
"Oh man! Spit! I played that one when I was your age!"
"Really?! Do you think Dad knows how to play too? Will you guys take turns playing with me? It was so much fun!"
"I'm sure he does. Though we both may need lessons since I'm not too sure I remember the rules."
Macy looked back at me excitedly, "yeah! I can teach you! It's simple. We'll have so much fun!"
