After another nightmare, I walk out into the living room, wearing nothing more than my nighty. Max is completely passed out on the couch. I smile and pull a blanket over him and he makes a pleased sound in his throat.
The T.V. has on some show or documentary about war. I shake my head. A recipe for nightmares. I change the channel to a home renovation show, planning to go to the guest room, but the show catches my attention. I stand there for a long moment.
Until an arm wraps around me and jerks me down. I gasp, my heart racing through me as I stare at the shadowy figure I didn’t realize was creeping up on me. A whisper clarifies the level of danger pretty quickly.
“I didn’t know it was you,” Gio says.
I hug him tightly, squeezing him. He hesitates, then wraps his arms around me and leads me back to my room. Gio looks at the mess of my bed in the low light from the closet light. I may have tossed all my nightlights at thirteen, but that doesn’t mean I can tolerate complete darkness.
“Nightmares?” Gio guesses.
“Yeah.” I push my hair back, not wanting it in my face. “Why are you up?”
Gio doesn’t answer right away. He walks over to me and takes my hand. “Don’t worry about me, Julia.”
“I do worry about you, dummy. I like you,” I remind him. “I like you a lot, Gio.”
“I know.” He nods.
“Which means I worry about you. Talk to me.”
“What I’m feeling isn’t important. Your safety is.”
I scoff. “Multiple things can matter at once. And you matter to me.” I scoot closer to him. “If I have to bribe you-”
“Don’t do that.”
“Talking to you is better than thinking about my nightmares,” I say instead, sucking it up and just laying it out there. “I’m tired of being afraid for myself or for you guys.”
Gio kisses my temple and takes an unsteady breath. “All of this ... excitement.”
I don’t rush him. Even though I’m about to jump out of my skin to eagerly find out everything he’s keeping inside. Gio needs time when it comes to what he’s feeling. He doesn’t jump into his emotions easily and he’s not fantastic about sharing them either, not the negative ones. Jealousy, anger, and affection are easy for him to display but hurt, sadness, loss, and disappointment are more challenging.
He shifts uncomfortably and clears his throat. “It’s making me question what’s important in life. My family has always been business-focused, but you know ... I haven’t seen my mother in nearly five years now?”
“That long?”
He nods slowly. “Seeing how much you miss your mom, really realizing how dangerous life can be in our world makes me wonder if I should stop waiting for her to reach out and do some reaching myself.”
“That would be a good thing, I think.”
He nods. “I’d want to introduce her to you, as you are now ... as we are now. But, I’m afraid of seeing her at all.”
“Oh, Gio.” I hug him.
He wraps an arm around me. “She was so happy to divorce my father and leave. The custody battle made things worse. You remember how I was.”
“Angry, all the time.”
“Not angry.” He turns to look at me, his confusion mimicking mine. “I was hurt, exhausted, overwhelmed.”
“With me you were just short tempered and always scowling.”
“Huh. No wonder you didn’t ask about things.” He snorts. “I thought you just didn’t care.”
“Of course I cared, Gio. I wanted to know everything but you were so angry that I thought you’d just tell me when you were ready. I think I’m less patient now.”
He chuckles, then kisses my forehead. But he’s dragged us off topic and I know it. “What are you afraid of?”