Chapter 7
EMS. The lights and sirens aren’t just for decoration, motherfuckers.
-Tai’s secret thoughts
Mia
By the time I got out of the ambulance, I’d worked myself into a good hissy.
Tai was clueless as he stepped out behind me and immediately walked into the station, leaving me behind.
I followed behind him.
It was either that or stay with PD, and I was mad at him.
I walked in, seeing Tai talking to some other man I hadn’t met yet.
He handed off a key, his radio, and he shook the guy’s hand before heading back to me.
“Ready?” He asked.
I nodded.
He placed his hand on my back and led me back outside.
We arrived in the parking lot in time to see PD get into his truck and start pulling away.
“Is it some written rule that everyone has to back in?” I wondered as I took in the parking area.
Every single one of the vehicles, whether it be car or truck, was backed in.
Tai led me to a lifted Chevy Silverado that was around forty years old…if not more.
I wasn’t a car guru, but I could tell a restoration when I saw it, and Tai’s truck was definitely restored.
The paint was a gleaming cherry red, and the tires had wheels that were so bright and shiny that I was envious.
“Nice truck,” I said, going to the passenger side.
Tai opened the passenger side door for me and helped me in, slamming the door once I was inside.
“Thanks,” he said. “My brother and I built it when I was eighteen. It’s the only thing to survive my teenage years.”
I snorted.
“I wrapped my first car around a telephone pole,” I admitted. “And my second car around a brick wall holding a sign up.”
He turned to me in surprise. “You don’t drive shitty anymore, do you?”
I shook my head.
“No, I haven’t had an accident since Colt was born. I guess he was my lucky charm,” I said softly, looking at my hands.
Tai didn’t say anything.
Most didn’t know what to say to me when I brought Colt up.
But I didn’t want Colt to be a dirty little secret. I wanted his life to be celebrated, which meant that I would talk about him.
I wasn’t going to hide my head in the sand.
And it wouldn’t bother me in the least if they felt like talking about Colt.
“Where does your mom live?” He asked.
I gave him directions, and we arrived at my mother’s place in silence.
It wasn’t a thick silence, either. It was a comfortable one. One where we both thought about our own things but didn’t feel the need to fill the space around us with useless chatter.
My mom lived in a neighborhood just outside the city limits. All the houses were the same style. Each a ranch style home with shutters, a well-manicured lawn and a two-car carport.
If you didn’t know the address or the car that was supposed to be in the driveway, you could easily get lost in the monotony of it all.
“My mom’s house is the first one on the right,” I said, pointing.
It was weird not seeing her car in the driveway. Then again, I probably wouldn’t ever see that car again, seeing as she’d totaled it earlier in the day.
“Nice place,” he said. “I live a few streets over.”
“Oh, that’s close. I told my mom today I’d move in with her and help with rent. I had a place up near the college that I was going to rent, but then this all happened, and well…you know,” I said, getting out of the car and heading to the front entrance.
Once I reached the front door, I opened it quickly and stepped inside.
“Please, for the love of all that’s holy, excuse the huge mess. My mother doesn’t have any control of her fingers when it comes to fabric she sees online,” I said.
Tai chuckled, but it broke off when I flipped the light on and he got his first glimpse of it all.
“So I’m guessing she likes sewing?” He asked facetiously.
I snorted.
“My mom’s more of an embroiderer,” I said. “Those machines right there cost thousands of dollars a pop. She worked her ass off to get them, but they’re big and bulky, and she’s got no impulse control. Which is why she has three of them,” I informed him.
He walked over to one of the machines and picked up a t-shirt that was off to the side.
“That’s nice,” he said softly.
I nodded.
“She’s making me a bear of all of Colton’s clothes. One that I can place on a shelf or something, I guess,” I whispered.
Tai’s eyes came to mine.
“You’re doing well,” he said roughly.
I shrugged. “At times. Other times, something like that would’ve set me off into sobs,” I answered truthfully. “It’s completely random, and I have no control over it.”
He put the shirt back down onto the pile that it’d been on top of before.
“Five years ago, when I moved here, it was because one of my good friends, Adam, died in an explosion right beside me,” he said, staring at the t-shirt with unseeing eyes. “It hasn’t gotten any better. I still have nightmares about it, almost nightly…more so lately…and well…I’m just telling you that you’re pretty normal.”
I swallowed back the tears that rushed up at his words and walked toward the back of the house.
I didn’t mean to make light of what he’d told me, but I was grateful that he tried to make me feel normal.
That was what I needed right then.
“Would you mind feeding my mom’s cat? The food bowl is on the counter. Food is under the sink,” I said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.
“Jesus Christ,” I heard Tai said. “You’re not a fuckin’ cat. You’re a fuckin’ sloth.”
I giggled.
Spaz was my mother’s very healthy twelve-year-old cat that, literally, did nothing but lay in the sun and eat all day. I was impressed that he could still get up on the counter myself, but mom said he never had any trouble.
I guess since Spaz’s only goal in life was to eat, of course, he would make sure he could get up there to do it.
I walked into my mother’s room and froze at the picture of Colt’s baby blue eyes staring back at me from a picture frame beside my mom’s bed.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Those baby blues had been so beautiful.
I walked toward the picture and ran my finger along the glass covering his perfect cheek.
“I miss you, baby boy,” I whispered.
This time, the tears didn’t come.
And I was grateful.
Tai had seen me cry a lot today, I didn’t want to break down on him again.
Turning away from that beautiful face I wanted to see again more than my next breath, I grabbed my mom’s nightgown from on top of her pillow, her slippers from the bottom of the bed, and headed into the bathroom.
I found the rest of the items she’d requested, too, and put them all into an overnight bag I’d found at the bottom of her bed.
Once done, I walked out of her bedroom to find Tai playing with a laser, making the old goat of a cat run and slide across the kitchen floor.
“Having fun?” I teased. “Where did you find that laser?”
He held up his key chain in his hand. “I carry it around because it bothers my brother’s dogs, and which, in turn, bothers my sister-in-law.”
I snorted.
“I’ll just take this home with me. Do you want to drop me back off at my car?” I asked.
He gave me a look.
“No. I want to take you to dinner.”
I blinked.
“What?”
He grinned. “You heard me.”
“Dinner…why?”
He moved closer until he was within reaching distance.
He touched my nose with one rough, blunt finger.
“Because I want to, girly girl…because I want to.”