On The Run: Part Two

Chapter Twenty - "Side Effects"

I frowned, “I could look up a synonym,” I joked.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, “I just . . . I know you don’t have a reason to stay with me anymore, but . . . I like having you around. I’m sorry, I know it’s not fair; it’s like bribery or something. I just thought maybe if you were a little happy, that you might want to stay. But if you don’t, I would at least like to spoil you a little,” she replied with a shrug.

I hadn’t even thought about it. It hadn’t occurred to me at all. The reason I’d stayed with her at first was so that I’d get to talk to Fitch as much as possible and keep up with everything going on in the case; now that we were . . . finished . . .

I wasn’t entirely sure what to say.

I don’t know how or when it had happened, but I found that I really didn’t want to leave either, and it had nothing to do with Fitch or the perks of living with Sarah or the fact that I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to the apartment in Brooklyn; it was just Sarah. Even if she wasn’t my biological mother, I think I’d still have liked her. It wasn’t because she seemed to always be going the extra mile or because I now had a full library of far more books than I could ever read or because her life was a fascinating picture of everything I could never have dreamed of; she was just good company. It wasn’t like we had a lot in common or like I felt any maternal connection with her; it was just her. She was warm and kind and funny and a little bit of a badass; what was not to like? The only thing was, I saw her as a friend, and nothing more. I didn’t feel any differently towards her than I did towards . . . say, Trey. I wondered if I ever would.

“What?” she asked.

I shook my head, “Thank you. This is really great,” I said.

“You’re welcome.”

“Does this mean you’re going to go to work?”

She frowned, “I told you, I have other stuff to do.”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that you think I might run off the minute you walk out the door?” I asked slowly.

“Won’t you?”

“I don’t really have anywhere to go, Sarah. I mean, I can’t go back to Brooklyn because Fitch and Trey are gone, and it won’t feel like home; I can’t run, because I wouldn’t be running towards anything. What would be the point? Besides, you would probably find me in a millisecond.”

“Well, maybe a second,” she said.

I smiled, “I like it here. I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

“Okay. Good. Cause I really have a lot of work to do. Your breakfast’s getting cold,” she said, walking off into her room.

*

 

The ability to get carried away within the pages of a book has always been the absolute best thing about reading a book. Absolutely.

For three straight days, I did nothing else.

One minute, I’d be all showered and settled on the balcony chair, with Sarah calling every couple of hours to check in, and the next minute, I was back inside on the couch, digitally selecting all the books I could possibly fill my time with.

There was something so exhilarating about my entire days, and it wasn’t until much later in the day that I realized that I hadn’t thought about anyone all day. I hadn’t even let my mind slip for even a second, and as I had so many distractions at my fingertips, I really couldn’t. I wouldn’t let myself think.