Just give her space. It’s what she needs right now to make her decision.
“Clint?”
“Yeah, Ma?”
“Rae’s here for you.”
My eyes widened and I leapt toward my bedroom door. I stared down the small hallway and saw her standing there, sweat dripping down her brow. Ma handed her a glass of ice water before ushering her in. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Rae was here.
“Why are you so sweaty?” I asked.
She chugged the ice water back before setting the glass down on our small kitchen table. She was panting. Still sweating. And as Ma went to refill her glass, she walked toward me, her eyes never leaving mine.
“I ran here,” she said breathlessly.
My eyebrows rose. “You what?”
“Here, have another glass,” Ma said.
Rae took it and chugged it back, groaning as it went down. I peeked over at Ma and she shrugged her shoulders, then nodded her head to my bedroom. Yes, Rae and I needed to talk. Something she had been encouraging me to do. I’d be late for Mike’s. But what the hell.
I could send him a text and things would be fine.
“Can we talk?” Rae asked.
“Sure. You want a shower first?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, no. I’m good. But we really need to talk.”
I nodded. “Yeah, we do.”
I ushered her into my room and took one last look at Ma. At the flick of her wrist, I closed the door behind me. I turned around and saw Rae pacing the room and wringing her hands together. Despite the fact that she had sweated a ring around her T-shirt and her hair was matted to her face, she kept moving. Refusing to rest.
“Rae, you need t--”
“I need to travel,” she blurted out.
I blinked. “You… made a decision.”
She sighed. “Honestly, it’s a decision I should’ve thought about sooner. Something that should have occurred to me. Then, maybe, I wouldn't have made such a terrible mess of everything. You know, me acting like a total psycho and losing my mind.”
“Do you want to sit?”
“Actually, no. I don’t. I’m so full of energy that I just…”
I cocked my head. “You look happy.”
She smiled brightly. “I am happy. Clint, I was scared. Fucking petrified of committing to something I didn’t want. I mean, college has always been the plan. Get out, get away, get my own place. But the underlying reason was the issue. I didn’t want college for me. I wanted it to get away from Mom. To get out of here. To leave this shit behind and never look back.”
“I mean, it makes sense.”
“In a lot of respects, Michael was right. At the restaurant, you know?”
“How do you figure?”
She ran a trembling hand through her hair. “I am jealous of you.”