“You know you’re amazing, right?” I said close to her lips, looking deeply into her eyes.
“I . . .” She was speechless, dumbfounded almost at my sudden mood shift.
“It means a lot that you’d show up here just to sit in a waiting room, Blue.”
“That’s what friends do, right?” she whispered, taking a step back but still holding my gaze. “You nervous?”
“A little. But also . . . ready. To move forward.”
She nodded, her hand reaching up to grip my forearm.
“I guess I better get moving then.”
We walked up the stairs and she took a seat while I checked in at the desk.
As I followed Dr. Drake behind his wood-paneled door, I glanced behind me once more to meet Jessie’s calming gaze.
Dr. Drake led me into a spacious office with soothing tan walls and chairs. His voice was equally comforting. “Have a seat, Nate.”
***
An hour later Jessie was right where I’d left her on a black leather couch in the reception area.
We walked down a flight of stairs to grab some coffees and then sat down at a small wooden table.
“You want to talk about it?” she asked.
“I think today was just about gathering information from me,” I said. “He asked a lot of questions. So I definitely let it all hang out about my family.”
“How did that feel?”
“Scary to say it out loud,” I said. “But then I felt relief, you know?”
She nodded.
“One thing Dr. Drake said was that Mom seems isolated and needs support, even if she never asks for it. Even if that makes her afraid.”
“Makes a lot of sense,” Jessie said. “She can always call my mom, you know.”
I smiled. “Your mom totally rocks.”
“Yeah, she does,” she said, after sipping from her cup. “Does your mom have other close friends?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Not anymore. She used to be really close to her sister—Kai and Dakota’s mom.”
“What about your uncle, the one you said owns the racetrack?”
“Same thing,” I said, realizing just how far removed my mother had become from the people she once sought comfort from. “So Dr. Drake gave me a bunch of pamphlets with numbers on them to give to Mom.”
“You think she’ll take them?”
“I don’t know. For starters, I’d to need to tell her why I have them in the first place.”
Jessie reached her hand across the table and warmth flooded my chest. “It’ll all work out, Square.”
***
I’d made a habit of walking past the fine arts building on campus the past few days in the hopes of running into Jessie. And today, it had paid off. She slung her bag over her shoulder as she pushed through the door and then paused as her eyes met mine.
A smile lifted the corner of her mouth and my heart thudded in response.
“Where you headed?” she asked as she neared me.
“Library, I guess,” I said. “But it’s such a nice day, I thought I’d just keep walking. Want to tag along?”
She hesitated only momentarily before saying, “Sure.”
We walked and talked not paying any attention to the time or the direction we were headed. It just felt good to be in her space again.
“How’s your bridge project going?”
“Great,” she said. “I was just coming from the campus darkroom.”
I arched an eyebrow. “So no windows and it really gets completely black in there?”
“Yeah, for a portion of the time.”
My lip titled into a mischievous grin.
“Have you ever—” before I could get the words out, she slugged me in the arm.
“No!” she said, her cheeks tinting pink. “You horndog.”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t considered it before.”
“Nope,” she said, not meeting my eyes. “Never even crossed my mind.”
I laughed and then grabbed for her fingers, without even thinking twice about it. “Somebody is so not telling the truth right now.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t tug her hand away. Instead she adjusted her grasp in mine and my skin tingled from the contact. “Whatever.”
“So you were able to get good pictures that weekend?” I asked, wishing she’d let me hold her hand for always.
“Really cool ones,” she said. “I’m considering doing a theme with the exposure level. I’ve learned some things from watching my dad.”
“Maybe I could see his photos someday.” I heard her breath hitch and caught sight of her parted lips in my side view. “I mean, if you ever wanted to show them to me.”
“Yeah, I think I would,” she said quietly. I squeezed her fingers. “Someday.”
We ended up on a familiar street so I slowed down. “Want to get a smoothie?”
She looked up at the Smoothie King sign and then through the window into the crowded shop. “Sounds good.”
I held the door for her and as she stepped through it, I said, “It’s on me.”
She opened her mouth to protest, as I knew she would.
“For coming to the dentist with me last week,” I said.
She burst into laughter and shook her head. “You don’t need to thank me for that.”
I held her gaze. “Yeah, I do.”