Page 12 of The Heart That Breaks
“Google maps.”
“And you rode your bike all the way out here just so we could do homework together?”
“It actually wasn’t dark when I left. It took longer than I thought it would. Who knew there were so many hills?”
“You’re crazy,” I say.
“Possibly,” he concedes, smiling that ridiculous smile of his, and all of a sudden, I feel my heart pound against my chest.
“Were you just planning to knock on the door at nine-thirty at night?”
“I hadn’t really planned that far ahead.”
I try not to smile, but I can’t help giving in just a little.
“What happened to your cheek?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say quickly, putting a hand across the small cut on my face.
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
“You need to go, Nathan,” I say, suddenly remembering that Lance could come out here and find him, and there’s absolutely no doubt that he would find new ways to make me miserable.
“But I just got here.”
“I was getting ready to go to bed.”
“You’re outside with your dog.”
I realize that I’m digging myself a hole. “I came out to check on him before I go to sleep.”
He gives me a long look. “Mind if I ask why you’re carrying blankets and an alarm clock?”
Through the living room window, I see the light from the kitchen flick on. “Oh, my gosh! Get down, Nathan. Now! If he sees you, I’m dead!”
To his credit, Nathan doesn’t question me. He drops his bike and follows me behind Henry’s barrel, Henry trotting after us both with a questioning whine. I slide to the ground, my knees hunched up.
Nathan crouches down beside me, Henry scooting under my arm and licking my face.
“If who sees me?” Nathan whispers.
“Lance,” I whisper back.
“Who’s Lance?”
“My mama’s boyfriend,” I say, as if he should already know the answer.
“He lives here?”
“Yeah.” I sigh. “He does.”
“He a jerk or something?”
“You could say that.”
We sit for a bit in silence, me holding my breath most of the time. After a few minutes, I stick my head out and see that the kitchen lights have been turned off. Hopefully, he’s stumbled his drunk self off to bed.
I say a little prayer that he won’t go in my bedroom looking for me. Then I think about what had happened this afternoon. My stomach drops, and a wave of nausea sails through me.
