Page 51 of The Reunion

I reached up to kiss him and rubbed our noses together. “I don’t care how much junk you’ve collected on your journey, Dom. Only about what we’re building together now.” Stepping back, I twisted my mouth at him and looked around the cupboards. “And my cooking stuff. So, did you happen to pick that up?”

The door by his knee opened. “Here you go.” I crouched and pulled a skillet from the bottom shelf as he slid away to the other side of the counter. “I washed them and everything.”

When I set it down on the stove, I pulled the peppers from the shopping bag and peeked over my shoulder. “So, how did it go with your mom? I mean, how are you feeling about how everything went?”

Air pushed through his lips as I peeled those little stupid stickers away with my thumbnail. “It went better than I expected, I guess. But” — he cringed when I cocked my eyebrow back at him — “don’t be surprised if she magically appears when you least expect it.”

I shook my head at the knife I pulled from the block. “I’m not a kid anymore, Dom. I can handle her. Besides,” — I bounced the blade tip at him and winked — “you’re both stuck with me now.”

“There’s a…” The way he paused made me look back at him, and he cleared his throat as he turned his hand over. “She just seemed like she was wanting to stir something up. So, if she contacts you or shows up here, just call me, and I’ll deal with her.”

Dropping the knife to the cutting board, I leaned over the island, flicking my eyebrows at him. “If she wants to talk to me, I have no problem with that. Nothing she says is going to change anything for me.” I reached over and squeezed his fingers. “Not this time. We’re solid.”

Something so upsetting popped up in his mind, making his eyes glass over. “A lot of things happened when you left” — he shook his head, sighing softly as his eyes fell away to the counter — “that she’s never going to let me forget. Every time she needs some kind of advantage over me, she pulls that card again.” Scanning me with his eyes for a beat, he wrestled my hand until he had it against his chest, and I was bent halfway over the island. “I just want you to give me the chance to explain when she does. Please don’t take off on me without talking to me first.”

I understood the part I played in all this anxiety that had him right at the edge of tears half the time. So, if I had to tell him a hundred times a day how much I loved him, it was no hardship for me. “There’s nothing she can say or do to make that happen, Dom. I’m all in now.”

Part of me wanted to know everything that happened after I left to brace myself against the storm I was sure was coming. Still, the other half was terrified to hear about what he experienced when he went on without me. “If there’s something you feel you need to warn me about, though, you can tell me.”

I searched my mind for every possible deal breaker that could keep me away from him, but after a second or two, I shrugged because I realized there wasn’t one. “I wasn’t around, and you owed me nothing. Nor do you owe me any explanation now for your choices.”

He hadn’t been married. Had no kids that I knew of. And I’m guessing the hospital wouldn’t have kept him around all this time had he a criminal record to speak of. But knowing Donna as I did, she could bend the tiniest crumb of information into something earth-shattering. “Whatever it is, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me, but if you want to, I’m here to listen.” I shook my head. “Judgement free. I promise.”

He pulled my hand to his mouth and kissed it as he slid off his chair. “It’s nothing in particular. You just know how she is.” Backing away from me, he motioned behind him with a head tilt. “I’m going to finish up in there unless you need me to chop something or open a can or anything.”

I gave the food a quick look over and waved him off. “Un-un. I got this. You go chill out and watch some TV or something.”

As I watched Dom walk back to the bedroom, his shoulders slumped as he rubbed the stress from the back of his neck, and my heart broke for him.

My parents never had much and couldn’t stand each other most of the time, but I knew they both loved and wanted the best for me. Even Dad keeping that secret from me was easy to forgive, because I understood it came from a good place in his heart for us both.

But whatever kind of sick mind game Missus Vasser played with Dom had cut him down deep in his soul, and the scars of what she did to us would never heal for him.

45

All that Mattered

Faith

For the third time since we sat down to eat, he got up to adjust the thermostat. “Why is it so hot in here? The AC unit is brand new.”

Shrugging back at him, I brought my glass to my lips. “I don’t think it is.” After I swallowed, I huddled against myself. “To be honest, you’re freezing me out over here.”

The stool beside me skidded backward when he plopped down on the seat and flapped his t-shirt away from his chest. “For real?” When I nodded at him, he glanced back at the tiny white box. “It says sixty-six, but it’s got to be like a hundred.”

Setting down my fork, I brought the back of my hand to his forehead. “Are you alright?”

As if my touch was a bee stinging him, he cringed as he rushed to pull it away and shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Rubbing his back, I leaned over and kissed his shoulder. “You seem kind of agitated. What’s going on?”

For a moment, his eyes shifted toward me as he hesitated to say, “No. It’s...”

His tongue shot out and covered his top lip as his knee bounced underneath him, and I ducked down to see his face. “Baby, it’s alright. Just spit it out.”

Stretching his neck and jaw first, he nodded. “Okay, um.” Like I was hiding under that mound of food on his plate, he pushed it around with his fork. “I know Mom’s going to be coming after you at some point, so” — he cleared his throat — “I should tell you before she does that I have Cyclothymia.”

That jerk of my eyebrows at him that told him I had no idea what the hell he was saying made his uncomfortable expression break with a smile for a second. “Um. It’s a type of mood disorder like Bipolar.” He brought his hands in front of him, one high and one low. “So, with Bipolar, you’re on this big cliff up here or in this deep pit down here sometimes, with short periods of okay right in the middle. Those ups and downs can last for days and weeks and months, and sometimes need hospitalization to get through them.”