Connection - Part Twelve
This episode is part of a larger story, Soft Touch. If you haven’t yet, you can go back and read it from the beginning right here.
The garage is glowing with bright afternoon sunlight, but Noah has a dark frown on his face.
“Jamie,” he says, through gritted teeth, “I do not want to sit around on my hands anymore. This is agonizing.”
“Okay.” I lean around Raj’s legs, holding the ladder still for him while he’s at the top. “We don’t have to, man. What should we do instead?”
Noah is standing at the workbench in the garage, doing something to some parts from his car. That’s the most detail I can gather. The pieces just look like rods and plates of metal to me, and the bottles of stuff he’s using on them came from the part of the hardware store that I would classify as ‘too advanced for me’. Whatever he’s doing, he’s been working at the pieces ferociously all morning, and he was at the workshop even earlier using some of Raj’s machinery on them.
He looks up at me. His face is mostly covered by his dust mask, but his eyes are iron grey, blazing with frustration and worry.
“I don’t know! If not talk to Gage, then…”
He trails off. Unfortunately we’ve already talked through the options several times, and no one has been able to come up with a good suggestion.
“Confronting Logan would be a potential disaster.” Aiden looks up at Noah from where he’s sitting on the garage floor, turning the tire iron in his hands. “Especially since we have no idea what’s going on.”
“Putting Gage on the spot and asking him about it feels mean,” I add, with an apologetic wince.
“And that leaves talking to Noelle.” Raj leans down from his ladder to catch Noah’s eye, holding a handful of autumn leaves from the gutters. “There is that option, Nohea.”
Noah flinches, quickly turning back to what he’s working on.
“Look, that would mean opening the door to a lot of shit we haven’t worked out. I really don’t want to, she might – that should be our very last option. The only if there are no other options left option.”
“Okay, then what are the other options left?” I ask, dodging out of the way as Raj sends some amber leaves falling from the gutters. “Besides talk to Noelle, or wait and hope?”
Noah’s only answer is a frustrated grimace. He silently keeps working on the pieces from his car, leaving one escaped strand from his bun to hide his face from the rest of us.
“What about you guys?” he asks, after a long moment. “What’s going on with the Sorcerer?”
“Right now? Nothing.” Aiden looks up from the tires again and shifts his snapback over his hair, a suspicious frown on his face. “It’s been strangely quiet. We sent Will to talk to Daisy, and she said she hasn’t sensed anything unusual since that night. But she’s pretty sure Coral must have felt that energy pulse when Nyx attacked us, because it seems she’s gone into hiding.”
“Does that mean Daisy can’t find her?” Ripley asks, accepting the tire iron from Aiden.
“She said she can probably track her down, but she needs more time.”
“Great,” Noah sighs. “More waiting around, just hoping-”
He’s interrupted by the crash of Aiden suddenly flying backwards from the car. He lands flat on his back, the ancient tire hugged to his chest. Ripley scrambles out of the way just in time to avoid a collision.
“Oh, Jesus,” Aiden pants, sitting up with a wince and recovering his snapback. “Okay, there we go. One tire is off the car.”
“Good man, Aiden!” Raj shouts victoriously. “We knew if anyone could rip those babies off it would be you!”
“I think these must be sealed on with five million years of rust. No wonder you two couldn’t do it.” Aiden sets the removed tire aside, drags his sleeve over his face, and shifts down to the next one. “Don’t worry, Noosh, we’ll get there.”
I steal a loving look at Aiden. Normally he’d have taken this opening to crack a joke at the car’s expense, especially given he has the rust all over his shirt to back it up. But he didn’t. He knows that Noah isn’t much in a joking mood.
“Just don’t you go flying across the garage again, Callahan,” I scold him gently. “That’s a sure way to hurt yourself, especially when Noah’s working with – whatever the stuff in that bottle is.”
Aiden eyes the tire he’s about to get started on, which really does look practically fused with the car. “No promises.”
Noah finishes polishing one of the parts at the workbench, then pulls his mask down with a frustrated sigh. “Raj, would you please come see if I did this right? Forget about the gutters, man, why do you care so much about the gutters? You’re such a dad!”
Raj climbs down from his ladder, wholly unruffled by this unprovoked attack.
“I am a dad, and so are you.” He points to the framed picture of Nikita’s grumpy face that’s currently sitting on the workbench. “See? That’s our baby.”
Noah scowls irritably, beckoning him with a toss of his head. “Just come look!”
Raj is already on his way over. He pulls off his gloves, then spreads a hand on Noah’s back as he leans over his shoulder to examine his work.
“Aw, turned out great, Nohea.” He rests his chin on Noah’s shoulder, a warm smile in his dark brown eyes. “Look at that! We’ve officially got five parts with no rust at all.”
Noah gazes down at the parts. His eyebrows are furrowed, his shoulders slumped, his mouth twisted to the side. He looks over his shoulder at the ragged, sagging car, then down at the workbench again.
For the first time, he looks disheartened about this.
“Five parts,” he repeats, in a flat, subdued voice. “Five clean parts of a car that doesn’t run.”
Raj drops his gaze to them, his brows dropping low. “Didn’t you take these from the engine?”
“Yeah.”
Raj lets out a quiet laugh. “Then this is how we get the car running. And we will get there, just be patient. We knew we had a long road ahead of us on this. There are parts of it we can’t even do ourselves.”
“I know,” Noah murmurs roughly, picking at his gloves. “But today I – I just want everything to be fixed already.”
Oh, man. The strain in Noah’s voice showed itself on that one. He’s not talking about the car at all.
Raj pauses, aware of that, then stamps a kiss onto Noah’s temple.
“We’ll get there!” he says brightly again, giving him a squeeze before he lets him go. “Don’t get discouraged! You stay here, and I’ll go get us some of those cookies that Aiden made. That’ll get us through. Think of the pumpkins. Think of the marshmallows.”
Noah lifts his head and gazes after Raj as he heads for the house. A tiny smile comes back into his eyes.
“And think of our incredibly well-maintained gutters,” Raj adds, with enormous satisfaction. “Man, do our gutters look good. The leaves fear me. I should get a shirt that says that.”
Noah widens his grey eyes in astonishment.
“This is advanced dad behavior!” he shouts after Raj, stabbing a tattooed finger at him. “I literally can’t believe that I love you!”
Raj beams at him, clearly having only taken away I love you from that, then lets himself into the house. Shaking his head, Noah turns back to the workbench. He moves over to make room for Ripley as he wanders over for a look.
“Whoa, Noah.” Ripley stares down at the pieces, his eyes bright with surprise. “Are these seriously the same pieces you started with earlier?”
“Can’t you tell?”
“Not really, no.”
I come over to have a look, too, and find myself just as taken aback as Ripley. The gleaming pieces of metal are so chromium bright and shiny that we’re all vaguely reflected in them. I can’t believe these came out of the engine bay of Noah’s car. Without the rust they’re very sleek and graceful.
“Wow,” I blurt out, with heartfelt admiration. “Nice work, dude! Maybe the car will be amazing, after all? I don’t know what these parts are, but they look cool. Dangerous, like a sparkler, or a bear.”
Noah stares at me with incredulous eyes as he pulls off his gloves. “Genuinely, Jamie, where do you get your fears from? Did some sparkler-wielding bear demon-?”
He breaks off as Aiden goes flying away from the car again, crashing backwards with another ancient tire hugged to his chest.
“I’m fine,” he groans, his deep voice full of suffering. “There we go, Noosh. Progress. One more tire removed. Looks like it wasn’t integral to keeping the car in one piece, either. Speaking of our fears, that was one of mine.”
Ripley and I break into laughter, and Noah brightens up a little.
“But then you’d be able to tell people you ripped a car apart with your bare hands,” he points out. “That’s pretty sick.”
“Why the fuck would I ever tell anyone that?” Aiden sits up, panting through his bewildered laughter as he hurls the tire aside. “Am I trying to convince them that I’m a dangerous maniac?”
“Maybe, I dunno. Depends on the situation.”
“Noah.” Ripley looks up from the hood of the car, which he’s been staring at thoughtfully for a moment. “Hate to interrupt this conversation about dangerous maniacs and sparkler-wielding bear demons, but… I kinda just noticed… where are the lights?”
Noah glances over at him in confusion. “Hm?”
“The headlights. There’s no headlights on your car.”
“Yeah, there are. They’re hidden headlights.”
Ripley draws back in surprise. “Hidden?”
“Yeah, you know what I mean. Hideaway headlights. They only come up and out when they’re switched on.”
Ripley’s green eyes widen.
“Whoa,” he says, so deeply impressed that Noah finally cracks a grin.
“All part of that classic performance engineering, baby,” he announces, proudly resting a hand on his car. “All part of why she deserves glorious new wheels, and her old paint back. The color code was on the engine ID tag, so I’m gonna try to match it as close as possible.”
Ripley spreads his paint-stained hands at Noah. “How is any of this not progress? Besides, we got the – whatever that thing was out of the hood scoop.”
“What was that thing?” Aiden asks wonderingly, looking up from the tire he’s working on. “I feel like it was stuck in there for a long time.”
I wave a hand at him, urgently shaking my head. “Don’t start asking questions like that, not with this car!”
Raj lets himself back out into the garage with Nikita in his arms. She’s wrapped in a blanket, grumpy and half awake, which leads me to believe he plucked her directly from her crib. Her little curls are all jumbled up.
Raj goes straight to Noah. He places Nik in his hands, and, when Noah starts to ask a question, puts a cookie in his mouth.
“There we go,” he says firmly.
Noah fails to stop talking in time to keep the cookie intact. He bites straight through it, and half of it drops onto Nik. She wakes up some more, bewildered but giggling, watching half of the cookie fall to break apart on the garage floor. Her giggles swell into laughter as Noah starts laughing, choking on the cookie in his mouth.
“Wow,” calls a stern voice, one that can’t quite contain its laughter. “I show up unexpectedly once and I catch you dropping food all over your baby.”
“She – drops – food – all over – me,” Noah wheeze-coughs, as Noelle strides up the driveway to join us. He manages to swallow the cookie with great difficulty, then turns to Raj with watering, accusatory eyes. “Hey, man. Thank you so much for the most painful cookie of my life. That’s just what I needed.”
“Hi, Noelle!” Raj calls warmly, pointing at the roof. “D’you see the gutters? They look pretty good, right?”
Noelle pauses in confusion, lifting her grey eyes to them. “Um… yeah! They’re great, Raj!”
Raj beams at her, and Noah groans loudly. Noelle enthusiastically takes Nik from him, returning the little sound of happy greeting that Nik makes at her.
“Don’t encourage him,” Noah complains, breaking into a smile all the same. “Didn’t know you were coming by today, Noey.”
“Yeah, well – seeing you work on your car reminded me of something.” Noelle hands over the slender cardboard tube in her hand, then places a fond kiss on Nik’s cheek as she gets settled into her arms. “Seeing the very bare walls of your room upstairs made me think of it, too.”
Confused but smiling, Noah opens the tube and carefully extracts what’s inside. Looks like an old, rolled-up poster. The rest of us cluster up behind him to have a look as he unrolls it.
The poster has an illustration of some sleek, glowing cars racing down a road through moonlit mist and rain. The words 24 HEURES DU MANS are printed across the top.
“Oh, shit!” Aiden breaks into a wide grin, his eyes full of instant recognition. “Haven’t seen this since we were chilling in your bedroom in high school, Noosh. Brings back some memories.”
“I took it from your room at mom’s house,” Noelle tells Noah, who’s beaming at the poster in pleased surprise. “I thought you might want to put it up in your room here. But you should put it in a frame, don’t use tape again. I had to be careful as hell getting the old tape off.”
Noah looks up at her, his grey eyes very warm and light. “Thanks, Noey.”
“Sure.” She casts her smile around at us, unaware of Nik gazing up at her with dazzled eyes, fascinated by the sunlight in her white crystal earrings. “Can I hang? I’m done with work for the day. Who’s all here?”
“Us.” Noah tosses his head at those of us in the garage, then adds - “Kent and Gabby are in the kitchen with Mel. The girls are setting up stencils on their pumpkins.”
“No, they went out into the backyard,” Raj corrects him. “Mel wanted to introduce them to Gage, and he was out there having a cigarette. Think he just finished up editing for the day.”
“Wait-” I look up sharply, my fingers flying to my cheeks. “Kent is meeting Gage? And I’m missing it?”
“Yeah, they’ve been talking for a little while,” Raj begins, but I’ve already gone racing out of the garage.
Aiden drops the tire iron and comes with me around the side of the house, grinning from ear to ear. “Oh, man. Oh, yes.”
“I didn’t prepare Kent at all for what it’s like talking to Gage, Aiden! I didn’t know how to explain!”
“Even better,” Aiden sighs happily.
We dart out into the backyard and stop to take in what’s going on. Gabby and Melanie are sitting together on the grass in the bright autumn sunshine. Laughing helplessly at their less than successful attempts at jack-o’-lanterns, but still determinedly chiseling away, flinging aside handfuls of pumpkin seeds.
Kent and Gage are sitting on the edge of the daybed, absorbed in a quiet conversation. Gage is demonstrating something as he speaks, but I can’t see what. His back is turned to me. What I can see is Kent staring at him with perfectly round eyes behind his glasses, pressing one hand to his heart. His cheeks are glowing, his mouth dropped open in a mixture of scandalized astonishment and rapt fascination.
Kasey is floating by Kent’s shoulder, and her mouth is dropped open in a grin of pure delight.
Aiden and I exchange a swift glance with each other, then rush over to join them.
“-right there, and only right there,” Gage is saying to Kent when we breathlessly stop beside him. He sits back with a playful smile in his eyes, gives Kent a knowing nod. “Trust me, try it. You’ll know if you’re doing it right, because she’ll go absolutely crazy. Crazier than you’re thinking, like, she might even kick you by accident. But don’t stop until she pushes you away. That’s important.”
“I – I-” Kent stammers, then looks up at me, desperately grasping for any words. “Hey, Jamie.”
“Hey, boss,” I manage, my voice wavering with laughter. “What’s going on?”
“I was just talking to Gage, here,” Kent answers faintly, “And it turns out he’s been with more trans girls than I have. For me it’s really just been Gabby, so I asked – asked Gage if he had any tips for me. Which he – did.”
Kent stops his explanation there, unable to continue.
I can tell from the puzzled smile on Gage’s face that it didn’t even occur to him that Kent meant any other type of advice. I can tell from the dumbfounded expression on Kent’s face that it didn’t even occur to him that Gage might think this was what he meant.
I really did leave him woefully unprepared, but I’m trembling with inward laughter and having a hard time regretting it. My eyes briefly lock with Kasey’s, both of us barely holding it together.
“Oh, forgot to mention – if you’re into toys, same approximate thing works with a Hitachi Wand, too,” Gage adds, then winks at Kent. “But I’d do it yourself, the first time.”
Kent opens his mouth, but his voice fails him.
He puts up a visible struggle to recover his composure, noticing the others coming around the side of the house to join us. I have to fight back another wave of laughter as he shoves his hands beneath his glasses to rub his fast-blinking eyes, hastily straightening up.
“What’s up, everyone?” Gage calls warmly. His eyes land on Noelle, and grow brighter. “Hey, Bug.”
“Hey!” she says affectionately. “I was just-”
Her sentence is cut short by Nikita’s decision to stick a hand into her mouth, trying to grab her lip. Noelle sputters in surprise, making both Nik and Gage laugh.
“You alright, Kent?” Noah asks, taking a closer look at his expression. “You look pretty thunderstruck.”
“I’m good,” Kent answers automatically, not really listening to Noah or himself. “Maybe I like being thunderstruck, you ever think about that?”
“Thunder only happens when it’s raining,” Gage says meditatively, accepting Nikita from Noelle.
Noah directs an impressed glance at him. “That sounds smart.”
“That’s Fleetwood Mac,” Ripley points out, “And that’s not really how it applies.”
“I thought it was from the Bible,” Gage answers, faintly puzzled. “Didn’t Saint Nick say that?”
Raj shakes his head. “No, it was Stevie Nicks who said that, and Saint Nick isn’t from the Bible, he’s just from – like – Christmas.”
“There is a Saint Nicholas in the Bible, though,” I put in, struggling not to laugh. “There definitely is.”
Gage drops his eyebrows low, his eyes filled with doubt. “Santa is in the Bible? I don’t think so.”
“No, he is,” Noah answers, with superb confidence.
“Have we had this conversation before?” Aiden asks, a crease forming between his brows. “I feel like we’ve already explained to Noah that Santa isn’t in the Bible.”
I tilt my head to the side, trying to remember. “Or did he convince us that he was?”
“Fuck you mean, Santa-? Wow.” Kent looks around at all of us with wide eyes, as if finally drawn out of his stupor by how astonishingly dumb we all are. “What a panel of experts we’ve got here. Is there any single one of you who can actually think? Noelle? Maybe you?”
Noelle was gazing warmly at Gage and Nikita, but now she looks up, blinking hard.
“What?” she asks blankly, and Kent tosses his hands up in surrender.
“Nevermind. There’s not an inch of sense to be found anywhere in this whole group. Let me tell you all a little something you should remember. If-”
He breaks off, suddenly distracted. Gabby is approaching us from across the backyard. Her long dark hair is in a complicated braid that Melanie did, undone in places by the same breeze rippling her dress. Her face is bright with laughter, her hands covered with pumpkin residue.
“Oh, Kent,” she calls out, half laughing, half sighing. “I can manage the whole town better than I can manage a pumpkin!”
“Isn’t that good news?” Gage calls back. “One of those things sounds more important than the other.”
“Good point,” Gabby giggles, shaking off her hands with fluttering little movements. “Maybe not true in autumn, though.”
For a moment Kent just sits there in silence, staring intently at Gabby, his cheeks glowingly hot again.
She stops in surprise when he snaps to his feet, then blushes as she peers up into his face. She tilts her head to the side inquiringly and fidgets with her fingertips, her dark eyes growing shy. I can’t see Kent’s expression from here, but he sounds breathless as he blurts out -
“Hey, baby! Should we head home?”
“What? But my pumpkin-”
“Yeah, it looks great!”
Gabby glances doubtfully at her jack-o’-lantern. “I mean… does it?”
“Mhm.” Kent is nodding in urgent agreement. “It’s all done! Which means we should head home, we should really head home.”
“Wh…?” Gabby dissolves into confused giggles as Kent takes her hand and tugs on it imploringly. “Okay, then just give me a minute, my hands are covered in pumpkin-”
“It’s fine,” Kent says firmly. “Time to go.”
Gabby starts backing away, holding up a warning finger. “Don’t pick me up, Kent!”
“I’m going to, baby,” he says apologetically, then snatches her up into his arms and rushes for the door. “See you guys later! Super nice to meet you, Gage!”
Gabby’s bewildered laughter trails after her as the two of them disappear into the house.
Noah breathes out a laugh, equally confused. “What was that about?”
“Gage’s fault,” I answer, drawing a giggle from Noelle.
“What, what does that mean?” She catches his eyes sternly. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” he assures her, surprised to be accused of doing anything. “I was just being polite, answering a question he asked me.”
That’s not exactly what Kent asked Gage, but okay. I bite back a laugh, catching Aiden’s eye. He playfully returns my smile, answering it with one so sweet that it sends a rush of fluttering sparks through my chest. Catching me off-guard.
He just looks very good in the faded old blue jeans and the heather grey shirt he wore to work on the car, both of which are smudged with sweat and grime after the full morning we had. The sunlight has burnished his bronze skin, his soft unruly hair. It collects up in the blue pools of his eyes and looks so much better for it.
A deep blush climbs into his cheeks, and he shifts his snapback over his hair. Suddenly nervous, which makes me realize that I’ve been letting my eyes linger on him with open appreciation.
He’s been shyly returning my gaze, his powerful arms crossed, the shade dancing over his face. Now he shifts closer to me and spreads his hand on my lower back. His warm palm pushes slowly along my flannel until he can take my hip in his grasp. He draws me back until I’m leaning against him, stroking me with his thumb.
My heartbeat is racing in my ears.
“What?” I ask unsteadily, realizing that Noah is waiting for me to answer something he said. “Sorry?”
“Man, no one can listen today,” Noah complains, laughing in disbelief. “I asked if you guys are staying for lunch.”
I take a second to consider. Sharply, keenly aware of Aiden’s hand on me.
“Oh, you know,” I answer lightly, “I think we’ll just head home. We both need a shower so badly after working on the car. We should also get some groceries, so Aiden can make Tahchin for dinner like he promised.”
“Yeah, and you know what I just realized?” Aiden catches my eye, suddenly troubled. “We have gutters, too.”
“Oh, right. ‘Cause we’ve got the house, now… Should we be, like – doing something about that?”
“My god,” Raj sighs, giving us an admonishing look. “You didn’t even realize you have gutters? You are so lucky I cleaned them while you were camping in Port Sitka.”
“What – did you?” I ask, aghast. “Oh, Raj – why didn’t you say anything? We didn’t know, we didn’t even say thank you!”
“No need to thank me!” Raj says brightly.
“Yeah, he did it because he wanted to, for fun,” Noah puts in, with a deep grimace that doesn’t hide the love in his eyes at all. “The man is out of control.”
Melanie comes over to join us, holding her jack-o’-lantern in her hands.
“This is so much harder than I thought it would be!” she complains. “Look at this!”
She holds her pumpkin up to show Noelle, who lets out a gasp of laughter before she can stop herself.
“Oh, no! Maybe we can still save it.” She takes the mangled pumpkin from Mel, gazing down at it with thoughtful eyes. “I have an idea, what if we-?”
Noelle breaks off in confusion as we all break into wide, eager grins. She arches an eyebrow at Noah, who shrugs his shoulders.
“We’re just excited for whatever your idea is.”
“Okay…” Noelle breathes out a puzzled laugh, then turns back to Melanie. “Well, let’s do it! But first of all – was that lunch invitation open to anyone?”
“Of course!” Mel answers, dusting pumpkin seeds off of her hands. “Is Logan here, too?”
“No, oh, I forgot to say! He had to go back to Paris for a few days. Maybe until the end of the week.”
All of us freeze, staring at her.
“Everything alright?” Noah asks, after a beat of silence.
Noelle grows serious, her voice picking up a sympathetic tone. “Unfortunately one of the Hollins uncles is getting very old, and it sounds like he doesn’t have much time left. I’m sure Logan told you about it, Gage, your Uncle Martin…”
For some reason Gage has stiffened up, his jaw tensing. An odd, unreadable expression has come into his eyes.
“Yeah,” he answers, not looking at any of us in particular. “He told me a while ago, actually.”
Noelle rests a consoling hand on Gage’s shoulder, then looks at the rest of us. “Logan had to go see him to get some things in order. He has so many businesses and properties and accounts, I’m sure it’s all very complicated. But Logan said he’ll be back by next week, at the latest.”
We all know that Gage isn’t part of the Hollins family anymore, so no one seems sure what to say.
“Shit, Gage,” Noah murmurs uncertainly. “I’m sorry.”
Gage waves a hand at him. “Appreciate that, but I’m alright. He’s actually our great-uncle, and I think I’ve only met him once or twice in my life. Old-fashioned guy. He, um…”
Gage trails off, hesitates for a split second, then finishes – “He’d like it if all his great nieces and nephews were settled down by now.”
“Ah, one of those relatives,” Raj says knowingly, being the one of us with the largest family.
Gage gives Raj a brief smile, picking his drink back up. “Mhm. Sorry to hear he’s in a bad way, though.”
“Yeah, Logan seemed pretty torn up about it,” Noelle tells Noah, her eyes full of sympathy.
Gage twists his mouth to the side, and falls silent.
“The good news is,” Noelle continues, turning back to Gage with a warm, tentative smile, “Now we’ll have a lot of time to hang! And I was thinking you should come meet my mom, Gage. She’s heard so much about you, it’s really time you two finally met.”
Gage blinks hard, his distant expression melting into a surprised smile. “Aw, really?”
“Of course! You should come over for dinner one night.”
“I – sure, yeah, I’d love to.” Gage breaks into an eager grin. “I’ve got to meet the woman who raised you two. I have so many questions.”
“Now that I think about it, I do, too,” Ripley tells Noah.
“I remember that time your mom showed up to shout at you during soccer practice, Noosh. When she found that bottle of vodka we had stashed. She straight up stormed the field.” Aiden huffs out a laugh, shaking his head. “We all heard the sound of angry mom shouting voice and just scattered. She set the whole team off running. Fleeing.”
“No one faster than me,” Noah answers, alarmed again at the mere memory. “Have fun, Gage.”
“I will,” Gage laughs. “Assuming I survive whatever Noelle’s pumpkin idea is.”
Noelle lets out an indignant sputter, swatting his shoulder. Gage dramatically flings himself flat on the daybed like she punched him, and Nik bursts into giggles in his arms, clutching at his faded old sherpa jacket.
Aiden and I leave the others laughing and arguing in the chilly, sunlit backyard. Noah and Raj walk us out to the front of the house, then cluster around my car with us.
“Logan left, dude,” Raj murmurs, saying what we’re all thinking. “He’s coming back soon, it sounds like, but he left.”
“I don’t want to say it,” I admit guiltily, “Because I do feel sorry about his uncle, but – him being out of town for a week isn’t the most upsetting news I’ve ever heard.”
Noah lets out a crack of sharp laughter, widening his eyes at me. “What an absurdly nice way to put that! We’re all fucking relieved, that’s the truth! Jesus, have I needed this break.”
“More importantly,” I answer, catching his eye across the top of my car, “Noelle might feel the same way.”
She already looks in brighter spirits to me today. A relief to see, because she’s seemed so confused and abstracted and anxious lately that I’ve been starting to feel bad. Between the discovery of Gage’s tattoo, which she’s still said nothing about, and everything else happening – she must be overwhelmed.
I can’t shake the feeling that she’s trying to sort out her thoughts and feelings about this all alone. Maybe this is something too personal to talk about, even with her friends. I think Noah would normally be the person she’d talk to about something like this. But they’re not talking like that, so she can’t.
Maybe she won’t need to. Maybe a week without Logan around will give Noelle the space to breathe and think that she needs.
“What do we do now?” Noah asks, turning to his left. Finding no one there, he adds - “And where’s Ralph?”
“Working way too hard, keeping himself busy.” Aiden shakes his head affectionately. “Calla is still on that trip with her dad to do some programming work, and you know Ralph gets anxious whenever she’s out of town. Even though she doesn’t live in our town.”
“As to the other question, I’m not sure we have to do anything,” Raj answers, proving that he’s thinking along the same lines I am. “Pretty sure you just finally get to enjoy some time with your sister, man. That sounds good, right?”
Noah breaks into a small smile, dropping his eyes to the poster in his hands.
“Yeah,” he answers, in a voice full of relief. “It does.”
~~~~
“Aiden,” I sigh softly, a little later. I shudder as he nibbles slowly on my neck, his body sublimely warm against mine. “Did you hear that?”
Aiden presses me deeper into our sunlit bed, pushing my shirt up with the hand he has beneath it. “No. What?”
“There was a little pop.”
He pauses, then draws back to look at me, huffing out a puzzled laugh. “A little pop?”
“A little pop. I swear. Like the sound of a bubble popping in a cartoon. Maybe it was too quiet for you to hear over the soul notes?”
“I was only listening to yours,” he admits, putting his smiling lips back to my neck. “The way Gage was talking to Kent got me thinking of making you go crazy.”
“Oh, I see, is that what happened?” I let out a helpless laugh, one silenced quickly when Aiden bites me and I have to catch my breath. “Gage really adds his own brand new layer of chaos to this town, doesn’t he?”
“Yes,” Aiden says firmly, then smiles wider when I laugh. “Maybe I should ask him if he has any tips for me.”
“As if you need any, Callahan!”
“Mhm, and I bet Gabby would say the same thing to Kent. Never too late to learn something new, Keane.”
I let out another laugh, shaking my head. “Okay, whatever, but again: I heard a little pop.”
Aiden reluctantly lifts his head to look around. “Whatever’s popping around here, please fuck off, I’m in the middle of something…” He trails off, blinking hard. “Oh, Jamie – look at that! Did you notice?”
I sit up on my elbows to see what he’s talking about, then let out a stunned gasp. “Oh, my god! When did that happen?”
I scramble out from under Aiden and go rushing over to the ruby tree growing out of our floorboards. One of the buds has finally blossomed, opening out into a single, gorgeous flower.
In shape it vaguely resembles a double hellebore, but the tips of its petals are a smoky dark blue, gradually fading into a sultry, molten orange-red at the center. Nearly imperceptible veins of tangerine color shimmer and reveal themselves when the flower bobs its head in the breeze. Anthers shaped from rosy gold dust tremble gently with every movement of their flower.
“Oh, my god,” I breathe again, completely overcome. “Oh, Sugar Maple, look at that, it’s… I can barely…”
My voice thins out and rasps away. This is easily one of the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever grown, a graceful little cup of pure fire. I hold my fingertips out to it, then draw back incredulously. I try again just to confirm it, but the chilly autumn air to compare it with leaves no question. The flower is breathing out heat.
“Wow, that looks nice,” Aiden says brightly, then blinks in alarm when I turn around and let him see my expression. “What – are you okay?”
“Yes,” I stammer, wrapping my arms around his neck. “It’s just s-so beautiful, and I really appreciate you giving m-me this plant.”
The wavering way I say it makes Aiden laugh warmly, clasping me into his arms with a sympathetic groan. “Don’t cry, Linden, you’ll make me cry!”
“Okay,” I answer shakily, already leaning up, bringing my face to his.
I catch his lips with mine, then slowly take two hard handfuls of his hair as I kiss him. His arms tighten around me, holding me closer. I melt against him, letting out a deep exhale, blazing fires of love burning high in my heart…
Half of the buds all over the ruby tree blossom, in a single wave that spreads across the branches. Right before our eyes, one after another, each one with an audible pop, so that the sudden rush of opening blossoms sounds like pop pop pop pop pop pop pop -
“Holy shit!” I blurt out, staring in astonishment at the masses of gorgeous flowers all over the tree. “Oh – Aiden!”
There are so many blossoms that the collective heat of them is warming my cheeks. I turn to Aiden, laughing in amazed disbelief.
“I told you we were overfeeding the tree! Oh, these delicate little branches under all this weight! I have to cut some of the flowers now, there’s no other choice!”
“It’s not our fault!” Aiden protests. “Blame Gage! It was the night we watched his video together that half of these buds grew in!”
“We were too close to the tree,” I laugh helplessly, picking up my gardening gloves. I have to stop and stare again for another minute, blown away by the unspeakably beautiful flowers. “Can you hand me my phone? I want to take a picture of them before I start cutting.”
“What-? Right now?” Aiden turns me around and cups my face in his hands, pleading with his eyes. “We were in the middle of something, remember? Or technically right at the beginning of something, but-”
“I can’t let the branches break!” I protest, scandalized at the thought.
“Fix them later.” Aiden hooks his finger into my boxers, gives them a playful tug. “C’mon, take these off. And maybe do it slowly.”
“The tree!” I laugh insistently, shoving his hand away. “Later, I promise, but the tree!”
“Jamie, nothing is gonna change my mind about what we should be doing right now, so just-”
Aiden stops and glances down as his phone starts buzzing. He slips it out of his pocket, holds up a finger at me.
“Hey, Auntie… a little busy, actually, yeah…” He stops to listen, winces, then sighs deeply. “Right now? Can’t Leo help you with that? I thought he was coming over tonight… Auntie, he doesn’t care if the attic is messy… no, I’m not complaining, I can help! I’ll be there in a few minutes. I know. I wasn’t! Okay. Bye.”
He hangs up, then lets out such a shout of frustration that it startles a laugh out of me.
“Guess I’ll be right back,” he sighs, then points at the ruby tree. “You got lucky, tree. Jamie, I’ll be home soon, and once I’m back-”
“I know, I know!” I answer hastily, already pulling on my gloves and dropping to my knees beside the tree. “I’ll be all done by then, I’ll be waiting for you in the bed-”
I break off as Aiden catches me by my chin – not gently – and makes me look up at him. He drags his thumb over my parted lips, then lets go of my jaw to take hold of my necklace.
“You better be,” he murmurs, with soft, flamy heat shimmering in his eyes.
I swallow hard, my mouth very dry all of a sudden. I’m trying not to tell on myself with my expression, the look in my eyes. But the ruby tree sells me out.
Pop pop pop pop!
“Aiden, go, get out of here!” I laugh breathlessly, pushing him at the door. “You’re going to overload the tree before I can cut a single flower off!”
He hurries over to the door, and I turn back to the tree. Breathing in the elusive fragrance of its flowers. Struggling to calm down before I overload the tree all by myself.
I glance over my shoulder, then do a double-take. Aiden is just standing there in the doorway, looking at me. He gives a little jolt when I look back, then sheepishly scurries out of the room, blushing.
The surge that rushes through my chest opens three more flower buds.
“Oh, god,” I murmur faintly. “Get a hold of yourself!”
I quickly start cutting some flowers, being careful to keep my skin covered with my flannel and my gloves. I remember what just a tiny bit of contact with the resin did to Raj, and I’m not sure my heart could handle any more than it’s coping with right now.
I’m not complaining, though.
An overwhelmed passion tree is a good problem to have.
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