“No, there is a need to thank you. So, thank you, Dana. That’s a big help.” I know there’s a Cheshire Cat grin on my face. I can feel it all the way through me.
As soon as I hang up the phone, I hear a shuffle of movement behind the door.
I dart over and throw the door wide before she can escape, and catch Ellen straightening up awkwardly.
“Hi,” I say, dryly. “Is there something I can help you with?”
She purses her lips, and then suddenly barks out, “That was very irresponsible of you, last night, driving out like that. There could have been ice on the road.”
I don’t know why it’s happening now, but somehow, for some reason, that just does it. It’s all too much. This giant mausoleum of a house. The fake family. The misplaced parenting. I. Just. Can’t.
“I think I should head back to campus for a day or two,” I say, spotting Dane heading up the stairs towards us. “Dane, would you mind?”
I widen my eyes at him so Ellen can’t see, and he immediately catches on. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so relieved in my life. If I dislike this charade, he hates it.
“I think that’s a good idea,” he says, quickly, then glances at his wife. “If that’s what you want.”
“I think it’s for the best,” I say. I grab the keys from one of the tables, then hesitate at the sight of all the bags. There’s no way I can fit them all in the tiny matchbox of a car parked out front.
Dane sees the glance and adds, “We’ll have them delivered.”
Ellen, meanwhile, is looking more sour by the minute. I keep having to tell myself she means well, but I have to get out of here before she goes full out psycho.
I almost make it too, when she catches me at the door.
“Hold on, Teddy!” she calls. She hurries down the stairs, her eyes nearly wild at the sight of me leaving. “Promise you’ll be back for Christmas.”
“I really should—”
She cuts me off. “Promise.”
Her stare is so intense I have no choice but to accept.
It doesn’t matter that I have to come back in two days now, I still take my escape. Those two days of freedom are more than worth the hassle.
I make it back just in time for dinner. Dane slipped me an obscene amount of cash on my way out the door so I could have stopped to get dinner somewhere else, but something seems inviting and familiar about going back to what I’m used to, if only for a while.
I’m heading into the dining room for dinner, ready to hole up alone when Wills stops me at the door with a huge smile on his face and a lingering embrace.
“There you are,” he says quietly.
“Hi!” I beam at him and give him another kiss. “What are you doing here? I thought you went back home?”
“I changed my mind,” he says, kissing my cheek and then that place just under my ear on my neck where he knows it drives me wild. “When you called to tell me you were heading back tonight … I thought it was a good excuse to come back myself.”
I sigh, but it’s a happy sound this time. “I’m just so glad to see you. You have no idea.”
“I think I do.” He takes my hand in his. “I’m hungry for a little bit of everything, now, how about you?” He tells me with a wink. “Come with me.”
“Come with you?” I ask almost plaintively, giving the dining room a longing look over my shoulder. “But the food is that way!”
I let him take me down the hall, his fingers entwined in mine, and I’m surprised when I realize that he’s leading me to my room.
With Dana gone, both of my boys have been spending a lot of time overnight with me in my dorm when we know we can get away with it. The school monitors haven’t been keeping an eye on anyone since the explosion and fire. It’s as if everyone and everything is shell shocked, and nothing has resumed the normalcy that everyone really needs.
I’m not complaining about it. It’s comforting to have either Blair or Wills there with me at night when my dreams inevitably turn to nightmares of that horrible night.
Wills opens the door and I am expecting him to try to take my hungry ass to the bed. Instead, I find a table set up with a lavish and elegant dinner, fully set with tapered candles and red roses. I gasp and grin as I clasp my hands under my chin in excitement.