After the Storm

Chapter Fourteen

"It's not for me. It's for you."

Well, I certainly wasn't going to be rude and argue with him. In the cart the bag stayed.

"And I hope you enjoyed dinner. My mom made it, I can't take credit," I said as we turned the corner into the next aisle.

We were literally just going up and down the aisles. There was no rhyme or reason to the journey and it was magical.

"It was delicious. No one in my family really makes lasagna so I've only ever had it a restaurant a few times. This was the best lasagna I've ever had."

"I know. You told her that at the table."

"And I meant it."

I could've fallen in love with Taylor right then when he said that to my mom. I was incredibly protective of my mother, for so many reasons. She was small and wore sweatpants at all times except when she went to work. She loved her kids more than anything and I was certain we were connected on a spiritual level.

My heart beat for my mom.

"What's wrong?" Taylor asked softly.

What? I looked around, making sure there wasn't a fire around me. Nothing was wrong, at least I didn't think so.

"You just looked a little sad there for a minute," he said, answering my thoughts. He was getting good at that. "What were you thinking about, just then?"

"Oh, just my mom." My voice couldn't have been above a whisper. I was worried that if the volume was any louder, I wouldn't be able to stop the emotion from slipping into it. And out of my eyes.

"What about her? Is she okay?" Taylor asked, concerned, slowing his steps as we walked down the cracker and soup aisle.

I nodded. She was okay. She had to be. I didn't know what I'd do if she wasn't.

"Just that I love her and my family more than anything else in the world. I miss them when I'm in class, and I can't believe that I'm considering moving away to grad school." I shook my head, trying to get rid of these feelings. "I'm sorry. I must sound like a broken record, talking about that every time we're hanging out."

Taylor swallowed, blinked his eyes slowly, and shook his head.

"Don't ever apologize for saying what's on your mind. At least not with me. This is what's going on in your life right now, and it's a big deal. It makes sense that you'd want to talk about it. Do I bother you with how much I talk about hockey?"

I shook my head. Damn. He had a point.

He also gave me a lifeline, whether he meant to or not. Speaking of hockey...

"Someone scored their first NHL goal last week," I said, smiling.

Taylor gave me a look. Yes, I was changing the subject. Yes, I will change it back if he makes me talk about emotional shit.

"Yeah, someone did. You were watching?"

Okay. What do I say here? Decisions, decisions. Do I be honest and admit that I watch every game of his, minus the ones that are too late because of time zones? Do I admit that what used to be an activity that I'd do mainly to spend time with my dad has become my favourite part of the day?

Or do I lie and say I heard it on the news? Believe it or not, I saw that the local paper did have an article about that game.

Someone—and I don't think that anyone knows who that someone was—said that honesty is the best policy. Whatever, I'm sure that's true. I just knew that there was no point for me to pretend I was cool, when I spent the majority of my life not caring about that.