“Okay.” She wears pink flannel bottoms and a matching tank top. Her hair falls over her nearly bare shoulders. Talk about breathtaking.
Haley crawls onto the bed and lifts the comforter up as if inviting me in.
“I can take the floor.”
“Well, you are my boyfriend.” The tease in her voice causes me to chuckle. The window rattles again and the gust penetrates the frame. “I don’t have another blanket or pillow and the temperature will drop up here. Besides...I trust you, West.”
I flip off the lamp and the space heater follows with a click, leaving us in the dark. The air mattress dips with my weight and I take my time unlacing my shoes and slipping them off.
Thank God it’s not a twin mattress or we’d be on top of each other—literally. Haley lies beside me, curtain-rod straight, and I knot my hands over my stomach. At home, I slept in my boxers. Because of the past two weeks, I’m getting used to sleeping with everything on.
“Where are you going to stay tomorrow?” she asks into the darkness.
“I don’t know.”
Under the covers, her fingers find mine and I clutch hers with both hands. There’s something intimate about lying here with Haley. Maybe it’s because I’ve been alone, but honestly, it’s her. Sleeping in my car, I’ve had a lot of time to think and even though the silence is new, the loneliness isn’t. How is it possible to have been surrounded by people and never feel complete?
“This is a huge risk for me,” she says. “If we get caught, my uncle would throw my entire family out onto the street. I wish I could offer you more than tonight.”
Lacing our fingers together, I tug on her hand until she allows me to move it up and out of the warmth of the blanket. Not knowing or understanding why, I kiss her hand. The skin is smooth and tastes sweet, just like her constant smell of flowers. My lips linger much longer than needed, and then I guide her palm back to my chest, right next to my beating heart.
Haley
My mouth goes dry. No one has kissed me since Matt. No one kissed me before Matt. I avoid thoughts of kisses and of dating and of boyfriends and relationships, because the last time didn’t work out so well. But Matt never kissed me like that, not even when I gave him my virginity.
Never did he kiss me in such a way that my insides bloomed, or in a way that I saw color in darkness, or in a way that made me want to kiss anyone back like how West kissed me. It wasn’t even on the lips; it was on my hand. I inhale deeply to calm my breathing. Just wow.
“Will you tell me what happened?” West rolls, and, even in the darkness, I sense him staring at me.
I stiffen and my head pops up. “What?”
“With your family. Will you tell me how you ended up here?”
“Oh, yeah.” I sink back into the mattress. For a second, I thought he was asking about me and Matt. “My dad was an engineer and my mom stayed at home. He was laid off a year ago last Christmas. There was some unemployment and some savings, but we got behind on everything and my younger sister had an emergency appendectomy and then we found out the insurance had lapsed and everything turned into a huge mess. Dad couldn’t find a job. Then he got depressed and whatever dollar store job he did take, he couldn’t keep. We lost everything.”
My hand slams against the air mattress, the anger still as fresh as it was when I found out. I pull on my hand and West lets me go. “It’s... I hate them, you know? My dad worked at that company for twenty years and, poof, they decide it’s cheaper to move to Mexico.”
There’s silence from West. I’m probably freaking him out. I cover my face with my hands. Oh, God, that was too much information. He scratches the top of his head and asks, “Who did your dad work for?”
“It was a small factory, bought and sold many times. I think the last name they had was Sillgo.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, and by the tone in his voice I can tell he takes it personally.
“It’s not like it’s your fault. It’s what people do, they buy and they sell companies not caring that souls are involved. They only see profit margins and they never think about the families. I often wonder how much my family and the other families were worth. I mean, are we different from animals on an auction block?”
The heater clicks on again and part of me wishes West never brought up my family. I’m tired of being angry. I wish he was still holding my hand, but then again, that would mean me falling for a fighter and that can’t happen.
Flipping to my side, I turn away from West and try to create space between us. I told him I trusted him. I do, but I obviously shouldn’t trust myself.
“Haley...” He hesitates.
Silences seem longer in darkness. I think it’s because it’s harder to lie when the lights are off. There’s a rawness that only belongs to the night and the truth can’t help but be set free.
“Yes?”
“I hate to ask, but I need to know. What are the shelters like?”
I fold into myself, absolutely crushed. My dirty secret isn’t such a secret after all. “Did Jessica tell you?”