Zach glanced back. “Should we turn around?”
She sighed. “Probably.”
“Do you have to go back with her?” he ventured, as they turned. “You said you caught the bus here. Couldn’t you do the same to go home? Or...if you waited around, I could give you a ride, after I get off work.”
Teri bit her lip. “That sounds wonderful. But I have to pick my battles. If I flat-out refuse to go with her when she shows up, she’s going to absolutely flip out. I’m going to be hearing about this for weeks already. If I didn’t need someone else to drive me whenever I left, I swear I’d take a stand right here, but...”
Zach nodded. Based on how her mom had sounded on the phone, he thought that Teri probably wasn’t going to be going anywhere with her mother for a while no matter what she said, but it wasn’t his choice to make. And Teri obviously knew her mom best, anyway.
He could think of one other thing to suggest, though.
“I can’t do anything about your family or your job, as much as I wish I could,” he started. “But if you want to get out of the house...would you like to have dinner with me?”
Teri’s face lit up. Her expression was so beautiful, so magnetic, that Zach almost reached up to cup her cheek. His hand actually jerked up, before he forced it back down.
“I would love that,” she said.
“Great.” He couldn’t control the dumb smile on his own face, but he didn’t care. “I could pick you up at six-thirty tonight?”
“Perfect.” She looked so happy. He couldn’t believe he was the one making her look so happy. “Let me give you my address and my number.”
They exchanged information, and then, after they’d put their phones back in their pockets, Teri held out her hand. Zach took it, surprised at how small it was inside of his. Teri was actually quite short, he had to remind himself. She didn’t even come up to his shoulder. Her personality just seemed to expand outward, making her seem taller.
When she was happy, at least. When she was sad or upset, she shrank down into herself until she looked as small as she was.
Zach tightened his hand around hers and resolved to make her happy as much as he could.
***
Teri said goodbye to Zach at the Visitor’s Center and told him to go back to work. She didn’t want him standing there to see the scene when her mother inevitably arrived.
He squeezed her hand, and said, “See you tonight,” with a warm smile that Teri felt all the way down to her toes.
He didn’t try to argue with her. He didn’t insist on coming along, or on keeping her in his sight. He didn’t even ask if she was sure.
It was amazing.
As she came out of the park entrance, Teri reflected that she’d gotten used to a lot of things. Maybe it was time to start reminding herself that they weren’t normal, that this wasn’t how things were supposed to work.
Her timing was perfect; just as she came out of the park’s entrance, she saw her mom’s car zooming up. Teri waved, and her mother screeched to a halt in front of her, leaned across, and opened up the passenger-side door with a violent push. “Get in,” she ordered.
Teri got in. Her mom pulled away, her knuckles white on the steering wheel.
Here it came.
“I cannot believe you would be so irresponsible as to go off on your own like this,” her mother began. “Without even telling me!”
“I left you a note,” Teri pointed out, knowing it was useless even as she said it.
“A note,” her mother repeated. “A note. You told me you were going out into the wilderness by yourself, without anyone to help you if you fell, or got dizzy, with a note.”
“I haven’t had any vertigo since January, Mom.” Teri took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “You have to acknowledge that I’m almost better. I can walk just fine. I’m not in pain. I’m capable of going out by myself without a problem.”
“Almost.” Her mother seized on the word. “You aren’t well! You were in a wheelchair for a month, Teri!”
“People in wheelchairs go about their lives just fine!” Teri hadn’t meant to yell, but it was just so unreasonable. “Mom, you aren’t treating me like I’m hurt. You’re treating me like I’m mentally incompetent, and can’t make any decisions about my own safety. I’m an adult and I’m capable of choosing what risks to take on my own.”
“Obviously,” her mother said with deadly calm, “since you chose to go driving along an icy, deserted road at night without being careful enough to avoid an accident, you aren’t.”