Don't Say Anything

71. He's Happy

Will seemed much more relaxed the rest of our visit. He wasn't kidding when he said he was overreacting. He puts these negative scenarios in his head before anything goes wrong and it's not good for either of us. Eventually he'll stop when he realizes that I'm not going to leave him, but I've got to get him to start expressing his thoughts without having to squeeze them out of him.

The goodbye with my dad was hard, harder than it was when I first went off to college. I'll rarely have this alone time with my dad again. If anything, it'll be five minutes during Christmas break or a random visit. I don't even want to think about it.

"What are you thinking about?" Will asks when we get close to his house. I've been quiet most of the drive because I haven't been able to pull my mind away from my mom and Ethan.

"How much I'm going to miss them," I say to the window.

"You can visit them anytime."

"It won't be just them."

I think he understands what I'm saying. The whole dynamic of family visits are going to be different from now on. It's going to be me trying to avoid my mom, my mom trying to secretly apologize and subtly try and make up for her mistakes, and then my dad trying to figure it all out. It'll be a dangerous mess that I should probably stay away from at all costs. As already proven, I'm a terrible liar, and if my dad ever approached me with concerns about Mom, I don't know what I would do.

"I'm sure you can find a way to be with them without your mom," Will says after a few moments of silence.

"Maybe my sisters, but not my dad. He's always with her."

"Not when he's in New York."

No shit caption obvious.

"So?"

"So visit him in New York," Will says like it's a trip to the park.

"That's like a nine to ten hour drive from here, Will. I'm trying to think realistically here."

"Just shooting out ideas. You could invite him here." We pull up to Will's house the minute the words come out of his mouth.

"To your house?"

"Yeah, but we wouldn't call it my house, it would be my uncle's house which I'm using while he's traveling in Europe."

"Good cover up."

"I thought so," he says with a cheeky smile. He gets out of the car and I follow right behind him.

"But I don't think running the risk of my dad coming into contact with Ethan is the best idea."

Will grits his teeth and then releases all his breath at once. "I forgot about that."

"But thanks for trying."

He gives me a sympathetic sideways glance as we walk straight into the kitchen. He gets himself a soda and tosses me a water bottle without me even having to ask for one. Mary is by the sink cleaning the counters, but Will pretends not to notice her. I wonder if she gets in trouble for talking to Will.

"He can come over when Ethan and Leah are in LA. They fly out there sometimes to see family."

"So we'll just find a time when they're gone and my dad is not in New York. Should be any day now."

Will chuckles and leans against the island looking casually remarkable.

"Okay, so that might not work, but I'll figure something out."

He looks like he jumped out of a damn Pepsi commercial. How does he make every single movement so attractive?

"I'm going to go call Jack to make sure everything's going okay and then do you want to watch a movie in my room?" he asks setting down the half empty can.