Summer Days

Chapter 56

I was absolutely pleased when it ended up that I was sitting next to Owen in the car. He wasn't going to be a driver until we were headed into Florida and I smiled at him and wrapped one arm around his waist. "Well, aren't you the lucky one." I murmured before kissing his cheek.

"I've been the lucky one since the first day I met you, darling." Owen said, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and kissed my temple. "We do need to have a bit of a chat this morning so this will be good."

"A chat?" I echoed.

"Nothing major, I just want to make sure everything is all right." He said.

My eyes flitted up to study his.

"You can call your therapist if you want."

"No." I shook my head, realizing he'd obviously been watching me this morning and as perfect as my Mr. Blackbourne could be, had instantly locked on to something being out of ordinary today. "I can talk to you. I want to enjoy my first ever vacation. If it's okay with you, maybe I can just talk things out with you while we're gone. I can make an appointment after we get back if I need one."

"All right, darling." He kissed my temple again and went to hurry everyone along into their spots in the vans so we could leave. I quickly got into my spot, stowing my tote bag at my feet and flashing Jessica a huge grin as she settled into her seat behind mine.

"This is going to be fun." She said.

"I think so." I agreed. "Gabriel went over the dressing up ideas we had, right?"

She grinned again. "Yes, trust me when I say that I am thrilled to be included."

"Good." I laughed and we settled in as the boys got in and took their seats and Owen settled in next to me, buckling his seat belt before he put his arm down and reached for my hand, lacing his fingers through mine. "Fancy meeting you here." I said.

"Imagine that." He returned with a dry tone as North started the van and started us along on our journey. He raised my hand and kissed the back of it, shifting slightly to face me. His gray eyes stared straight into mine, searching and reassuring himself that all was fine.

"I'm fine." I said, ducking my head slightly to break the gaze.

"I'm sure you are." He reached out with his free hand, raising my chin up with two fingers underneath it. "Was today just about bad memories or did something happen?"

I shrugged lightly. "I was feeling bad about being the last one up and North made some comment about being able to take my fruit with me if I didn't finish in time. I just was hungry so I ate fast."

He inclined his head slightly, one perfect eyebrow arching up in question.

"I'm not sure if you and Sean have totally figured this out or not but some of my punishments growing up involved limited food." I said as casually as I could.

"We suspected." He admitted. "You spent a lot of the first 6 months that we knew you in a severely under nourished state. It wasn't until after camp, when we finally got you in the right spots to pay more attention to what you ate and how often you ate that we could make a difference. It's the reason for the anemia and low blood pressure."

I nodded slightly. "I could have guessed that. I'm sorry that I haven't been more open with what's gone on in my past." I leaned forward, dislodging his fingers and resting my head on his shoulders. "I have talked about most things in my therapy sessions but there are still some deep seeded issues with food and my... mo.. step mom."

His thumb started to gently stroke the back of my hand as he held it. It was soothing and I know that he meant it to be.

My Mr. Blackbourne. Owen, my love. So formal for the entire first 10 months that I knew him but after our date that last day of school? A constant joy and presence in my life that I could not survive without. He made an active listening noise, deep in his throat and I almost giggled before I continued. "Some of her more creative punishments used to involve withholding food. It was a lot easier for her to do it during the summer because she could feed me one meal a day and no one cared. She used to try it during the school year but someone always noticed if I didn't have a lunch. I managed to scrape some money together at one point and used it to get a meal card started. I would at least be able to have breakfast if I didn't have anything else and then I could manage to eat my meager lunch throughout the day to hopefully avoid starving that night. Because I didn't always get dinner."