Page 94 of Heartbeat

He brushed his fingers through my hair. “Talk to you later?”

“Yep,” I said, really hating we were saying goodbye.

He kissed me again, this time for a bit longer.

“God, I love doing that,” he said, pulling away but letting his eyes remain closed for a second longer before opening them. “Bye, beautiful,” he softly said, then turned and walked away.

I watched him for a bit before heading inside, where I was greeted by my mother as soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Hi, sweetie!”

“Hey, Mom.” I walked over and kissed her hello.

“Did you have fun?”

“I did,” I said, unable to hide a smile.

She frowned as though finding it suspicious. How sad when people were concerned because of a smile.

“I can see that. You look…happy,” she said.

“Yeah,” I said, just as amazed as she was. “I guess I am.”

She smiled, her eyes instantly filling with tears. It was the first time in a long time that I could come near such a sentence without feeling as though doing so would turn me into ash.

“I’m just going to go to my room,” I told her. “Jonas came back with me.”

“Oh. That’s wonderful. Should I make something for you boys to eat?”

My mom hadn’t made such an offer in at least three years.

“Um—No need. We’re good.” I turned and made it to the first three steps before she followed me.

“Thomas?”

“Yeah?”

“I, uh…” She stared at me for a good minute before continuing, suddenly resolute. “I’m making you boys mini-pizzas.”

“O-okay. Great.”

“Great,” she repeated.

When I got upstairs, Noah and Jonas were in Noah’s room playing PlayStation.

“There he is!” Jonas said excitedly.

“Did you tell Mom?” I ignored Jonas and turned to Noah, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at the door.

“Of course not. Why?”

“She’s acting weird.”

“Weird how?” Jonas asked.

“She’s making mini-pizzas.”

“Her mini-pizzas are awesome,” Jonas said, basically salivating.

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