Page 69 of Besties
I could tell by Richie’s expression he was in love. Not like he was with me, but more like he’d met a long-lost kindred spirit. Someone who wanted to make a difference. To help keep kids from flunking out, seeing there was a safety net out there, if they were willing to meet it halfway.
“What can we do for you in return?” Richie asked.
Josh smiled, and it looked perfect on his handsome face. “If you ever get to New Mexico, you’ll buy me dinner. How’s that sound?”
“Absolutely perfect. And if you ever find yourself in Boston, look us up. Max and I would love to show you around, and we can take you for some of the best seafood in the country.”
“You’ve got a deal.”
“Feel free to bring Dixon, if you’d like,” I chimed in.
Josh scowled, his freckled cheeks reddening even more. “That would be a no. He’s an arrogant ass.”
But I knew from the way Josh looked at him, and the way he was doing his best to deny it, that Dixon was the object of his affection. Even if he couldn’t stand him.
We finished up the call, and then Josh walked away from the computer, muttering to himself.
“Think we should tell him he didn’t disconnect?” I teased.
“Nah, I got it.” Richie dropped the call, then turned to me. “Where’d you come up with this idea?”
So I explained it to Richie. How something he’d said fired my mind and got me to think ahead instead of just reacting. That wasn’t my usual MO. Normally I’d fly off the handle, but this time I tried to do what Richie—what anyone at Teaching Time—would do.
When I finished telling him everything, he smirked. “Tell me again how I made a bad choice.” He took my hand and led me to the couch, where we took a seat. “This is the Max I knew was buried in all that…. gunk people heaped on him.”
“Gunk?”
He stuck out his tongue. “Hush. It’s all very scientific.” Then he pulled me in for a hug. “I don’t want you to live in Milwaukee anymore. I want you to stay with me. Here, in Boston. To make a home with me. I can’t be away from you anymore, Max. If Milwaukee means that much to you, then I’ll move back. I don’t care where we are, as long as we’re together.”
My heart was lodged in my throat. I swallowed hard, hoping to hell Richie wasn’t teasing me. “You mean it?”
A quick nod. “I missed out on all these years because fear held me back. I let you suffer, because I was too much of a chickenshit to step up.”
“We both were,” I corrected him.
“No, this is on me. I’ve never been afraid of anything, except losing you. That thought terrified me more than you’ll ever know.”
He was big, solid, and strong. I knew we’d each have the other to rely on from here on in. “We’re idiots. That’s what you’re saying.”
He nodded. “I should have trusted in our friendship. I knew, deep down, that nothing could come between us, but it needed to be dredged up to the surface, where you’d finally see it.”
And I had. I never believed I was worthy of love. Not my mom’s. Not Richie’s. No one. I always figured that if my father could so casually toss us aside, then it would happen with anyone else. The guys I was with proved that lesson to me repeatedly. I wasn’t worth the effort. No matter what anyone said or what they did, I figured eventually they’d toss me aside. I made so many mistakes trying to be a person someone could love.
No more.
“I’m yours, Richie. Now and forever more, if you’ll have me.”
“You always have been, and you always will be.” He stood. “Let’s go home.”
And that sounded perfect to me.
Josh Malone wasas good as his word. Two weeks later we had everything he’d offered. The pads—which were insanely amazing—were distributed to each of the campuses, and everyone in our place had one. The comments about them compared them to iPads and other handheld devices, and most everyone agreed the pads blew them away. In fact, a number of people asked where they could buy one of their own. They were disappointed when they found out they weren’t for sale.
When Richie brought up the possibility of theft, Josh informed him that they were geocentric and couldn’t work outside of the CrossBow, and now Teaching Time campuses, due to something I couldn’t understand if you paid me. But Richie seemed blown away by the generosity and by the equipment itself.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Richie asked us, breathless, in a meeting.
“Do you think we could get him onboard to work with us?” someone wondered.
