Page 25 of Healing Conviction
Drake stilled for a moment before relaxing. “My mom, um… she worked in a place like this.” He glanced around the busy dining room, pausing on his bite of greasy double cheeseburger. “I guess it feels like home.”
“Worked. As in…”
“Yeah, she died. Cancer. Quick. Right after I enlisted. Not much pain for her.”
For her.
“And what about you? I bet it was hard to watch.”
His shoulders dropped as he took a sip of his drink. “It was.”
“So you guys had a good relationship?”
“Yeah, my parents were pretty great. My stepdad and I used to go camping all the time.” He shifted in his seat before pulling out a large, sturdy pocket knife and flicking it open and shut before showing it to her, letting her hold it. “He gave me this on our first trip.”
“That’s so sweet.” Her heart clenched at the story. The rest of her body melted as he took her hands in his and wordlessly showed her how to open it. She repeated the movements, captivated for a moment by the way the metal glinted in her hand. His fingertips kept brushing over her skin, sending tingles up her arms.
After opening and closing the knife a few more times, she couldn’t stand the fever beginning to burn under her skin and the warmth pooling in her core. She shoved it into his hands, then hastily picked up her silverware for something to do as he hooked it back into his pocket.
“So, um.” She cleared her throat and cut up her overly saturated waffle. “H-How old were you when he gave it to you?”
“Seven.”
“What?Seven?You could’ve poked your eye out! What was he thinking?”
Drake laughed as he shook his head. “My stepdad taught me how to safely use it. Maybe he was a hard-ass, but I think he just expected back what he put in. He was a good man who gave his all for what he loved, especially my mom, and he took it hard when she passed. She was everything to him, and I don’t think he ever recovered. Not too long after she left, he went with her.”
“Like he couldn’t wait to see her again,” she whispered.
His lips lifted at the corner at her observation. “That’s how I like to think of it.”
I wonder how it feels to be loved like that.Nora grimaced and covered her heart with her hand.
“I’ve never understood how people can devote so much of themselves to another person. I mean, if you give until there’s nothing left, then you’re just a shell when it’s inevitably over. It’s so…sad.”
He watched her carefully before he shrugged a shoulder. “It is, and it isn’t. I think it’s pretty amazing that they both found their soul mate. There’s something to be said for finding the love of your life and fighting like hell to keep them.” A weighted pause fell between them, crushing her chest until he continued again. “Anyway, I was overseas, so I didn’t get to go to the funeral, but I don’t feel the need to go to their graves. For me, it’s places like this. Jacky’s for my mom, and camping for my stepdad.”
She hugged herself. “I’m glad you have somewhere to go.”
After a nod and another bite of his burger, there was a shift in his posture and the air around them, silently telling her that he was about to pivot the conversation.
“What about your folks?”
On the outside, she remained calm and relaxed, swirling more syrup on an already drowned waffle that she was too full to comfortably enjoy. But on the inside, tiny muscles she’d never been able to fully train, tensed at the question. She stuffed her mouth with soggy waffle, and swallowed past the nausea the topic always brought up.
“Oh, you know. Nothing special to really talk about when you had a regular, run-of-the-mill childhood.Bo-ring. I had to make up imaginary friends just to have something to do.”
She snorted and looked up for his agreement. But her laughter died at the sight of the sharp grim line across his mouth.
“Why do you do that, Pix?”
“Um… do what? Eat delicious waffles?”
“Pretend like nothing’s wrong.”
His words sliced through her facade, and she felt the burn of exposure, but she only shrugged with a pasted smile and a coy wink. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. My life’s peachy keen, babe.”
“It’s annoying.”
