Love is Silent

Chapter 16

            Both of them froze in place. My mom opened and closed her mouth a few times before finally speaking. “Y-you want to go to that show?”

            I nodded and looked down at my hands. “I want to ride in Luke’s memory,” I whispered. “I think that’s what he would want me to do.”

            My dad stepped forward and laid one of his hands over mine. “I think you’re right.” He looked over at my mom. “What do you think?”

            “I think as long as her physical therapist clears it, then it shouldn’t be a problem.” She moved up to stand beside my dad, and placed her hand over both of ours. “Thank you for letting us watch you. It’s the best Christmas present I could’ve asked for.”

            I didn’t say anything else after that, and I got off Justice and put him away. We all went back up to the house and my dad lit the fireplace in the living room. My mom made us some hot chocolate and we sat around the fire, all of us lost in our own thoughts. It felt weird sitting around the fire on Christmas Eve without Luke there. We’d done this every year for as long as I could remember, and it felt empty without him.

            After half an hour, I couldn’t handle it anymore and I went to bed. I called Chase and talking to him made me feel a little bit better. When I hung up, I settled down into my pillows. Sleep eluded me for nearly two hours, but eventually I drifted off, only to wake up an hour later with my heart pounding and my breathing rapid. I’d had a nightmare, but I didn’t remember what it was about.

            I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to get myself a drink of water. Then I went into the living room and curled up on the couch. For some reason, I didn’t want to go back into my room tonight. I tried to fall asleep on the couch, but I didn’t have any luck. I was dead tired when my parents eventually woke up in the morning and came down, but I tried to hide it from them. I don’t think I did a very good job of it, but they didn’t comment on it as we opened presents before they went to the barn to do chores.

            I sent Chase a text, asking if he could come over earlier than his foster parents. He replied back right away saying that he could come over now, and I was more than happy to agree. He showed up twenty minutes later, took one look at me, and dragged me into my room. I was a little startled, but then I smiled slightly. “You do know that my parents will be back in the house shortly, right?”

            He rolled his eyes. “You look like hell, Dana. I didn’t bring you in here for that.”

            Hurt flashed through me and I yanked my arm away from him. “Gee, thanks,” I said sarcastically. “If you’re just going to insult me, maybe you should leave.”

            He looked surprised, but then his eyes softened a bit. “Sorry, that came out wrong. You just look really tired and I want you to have a nap.”

            I lowered my eyes. “Oh. I didn’t really get to sleep last night.”

            He cupped my cheek in his hand. “What happened?”