Ever After Drake (16 page)

“
I don’t know,” he says
quietly, his eyes falling to the floor. “I wasn’t thinking much at
all. I just reacted.”

“
You can’t save me,
Drake,” I say quietly, all the anger seeping out of me, leaving me
tired and heavy. “And you need to realize that I’m not part of your
story anymore.”

He gives a nod. I see the muscles in
his jaw tighten and relax several times. His eyes don’t come back
to mine, and for that I’m glad.

I turn back to the door, open it, and
walk out.

I don’t remember walking down the hall
or down the stairs, but suddenly I’m out in front of the building.
The day is grey and not very warm, but at least it isn’t raining. I
slip my pumps on and start walking down the sidewalk.

My phone dings with a text message. I
pull it out of my purse and see it’s from Armando.

Sorry, worked late last
night and then Anthony came over. You okay?

“
Kaylee?”

I look up from my phone and search for
the source of the voice. A minivan has pulled over to the curb with
the window rolled down. I duck down just a touch to see who’s
inside.

It’s Drake’s mom.

“
Hi, Mrs. McCain,” I say,
trying to force a smile onto my face.

“
It’s good to see you,
sweetheart,” she says, a genuine smile on her own face. “You look
beautiful, though I’m not sure why you’re walking around town
dressed that way.”

“
It’s a long story,” I try
to explain. “But the short of it was I came home from school last
night and my building had gotten smoked out.”

Robin looks at me for a long moment
and I can see conflict in her eyes. I’m very obviously walking back
from her son’s apartment.

“
I’m glad Drake gave you
someplace to stay,” she says. “I know how much he’s missed
you.”

That’s all it takes to make my eyes
well and redden.

“
Oh, sweetie,” she says as
she shifts into park. She reaches over to the passenger side and
pushes the door open. “Get in. You look like you could use a good
breakfast and an ear to listen. And maybe even some words of
advice.”

I bite my lower lip, hesitate for just
a moment, and climb inside.

A little shiver works its way up my
spine as she rolls the window up and blasts the heat for me. My
nose has, of course, started running and I give a little sniff as I
wipe under my eyes.

“
So, where we going for
breakfast?” I ask when I don’t know what else to say.

“
Nothing helps heal a
broken heart quite like home cooking,” she says as she reaches over
and gives my knee a little squeeze.

A laugh that sounds a little nasally
and awkward bubbles up out of me. “I couldn’t agree more,” I say
when she hands me a tissue from a stash in the door of her minivan.
“Wish I’d had that growing up.”

Robin gives me a little smile and
doesn’t say a word as we make our way to their home.

The house is quiet when we get there.
It’s not quite eight o’clock this Sunday morning. I have little
doubt that Lake and Kale are still sleeping. We come in through the
door to the garage and Robin tells me to hang the jacket I stole
from Drake on the hook in the mud room.

Robert sits at the kitchen table,
peering through a set of reading glasses perched on his nose and
reading a newspaper. He looks up at us when we walk through the
door.

“
Well, good morning,
darling,” he says, looking at me and not his wife. This makes me
smile. “Don’t you look pretty this morning?”

“
How about I go look
through some of Sage’s old things and see if there isn’t something
you can change into?” Robin asks, placing a soft hand on my upper
arm.

“
I’d really appreciate
that, thanks,” I say with a smile.

She shuffles off down the hall,
leaving Robert and I alone.

“
Why don’t you have a
seat?” he says, pushing out a chair for me with his foot under the
table. I walk over and sink down into it.

“
The team’s been playing
hard this season,” I say before any awkward silence can take
root.

Robert shakes his head and gives the
smallest of eye rolls. “I don’t know about that. Bunch of hormonal
boys more concerned about girls than the game that might get them
full-ride scholarships.”

“
Sounds like typical high
school boys to me,” I say.

He gives a chuckle and nods his
head.

“
Try these on,” Robin
suddenly says from behind me. She hands over some clothing
items.

“
Thanks.” I head for the
bathroom she points toward. I’m nearly there when Lake shuffles out
of his bedroom. His hair is sticking straight up on one side and
his eyes are puffy and mostly closed with sleep.

“
What are you doin’ here,
Miss Ray?” he says, squinting at me.

“
Um…” I say
awkwardly.

“
Never mind,” he says as
he shuffles past me toward the kitchen. I smile just slightly as I
watch him go.

I slip into the bathroom and change
into the clothes Robin produced for me. The jeans fit okay other
than that I have to roll them three times so I don’t trip on them.
There is also a white undershirt, which I’m grateful for
considering I still don’t have a bra, since one did not work under
my dress. There’s also a black t-shirt, which is quite long, but
otherwise fits all right.

I walk back out and head for the
kitchen. Lake shuffles back toward me, a banana in hand. He squints
at me again. “Now you’re wearing my sister’s clothes. Are you
moving in?”

“
No,” I say with a
chuckle. “Go back to bed, Lake.”

He just gives an affirmative nod and
walks back into his bedroom and closes the door.

I round the corner into the kitchen
and find Robin working on breakfast. She’s pouring pancake batter
onto a skillet and on the stove behind her I can see eggs and bacon
cooking as well.

“
Can I help with
anything?” I ask.

Robin shakes her head. “Sometimes you
just have to let someone take care of you, sweetie, and I can tell
today is one of those days for you.”

“
Well, thanks,” I say
awkwardly as I sink onto one of the stools at the bar. I prop my
chin up on my hand, my elbow on the Formica counter. “What were you
out to do when you found me this morning anyway?”

“
I was on my way to
Drake’s,” she says, glancing up from her cooking. “I was going to
invite him to dinner tonight. And to check on him.”

“
You do much of that
lately?” I ask, already feeling uncomfortable, but curious none the
less.

Robin looks at me a long moment.
There’s been conflict on her face since the first moment she saw me
this morning. She has no reason to dislike me, but she is also
Drake’s mother. Mothers protect their sons. They also generally
take their sides. Even if, in reality, there aren’t any real sides
to this situation.

“
I think I’ve gotten to
know enough about you to see this situation has wrecked the both of
you,” she finally says as she flips two pancakes. “Drake’s been a
bit of a mess.”

“
Really?” I ask. It slips
out before I can stop it.

“
I don’t think you’re
surprised to hear that,” she says, giving me a serious look. “My
son loves you more than he’s ever loved anything in his life. He’s
managing to take care of his responsibilities, but he’s a useless
lump outside of those times.”

“
Wouldn’t even get out of
bed that first weekend,” Robert pipes up. I look over my shoulder
at him. He’s folded his newspaper up and climbs out of his chair to
sit by me at the bar. “I practically had to drag him by his shirt
collar out of his apartment and to our house for Sunday
dinner.”

I chew on my lower lip, my stomach
feeling knotted. This isn’t easy. But somehow it makes me feel
better than I expected, sitting here, hearing the outside
observation of his parents.

“
How’s he handling the
whole Diana situation?” I ask. “That’s not something we can exactly
talk about.”

“
I’m sure it isn’t,” Robin
says as she sets a plate with two pancakes in front of me. I’m not
hungry at all, but she’s being so nice. So motherly. “Drake…he’s
trying. He wants to do the right thing with the baby and give it
the best home he can. He’s been trying to give things with Diana a
second chance. It wasn’t like they broke up for some horrendous
reason. Things just weren’t going anywhere. So he’s been
trying.”

The knife that’s been in my heart the
past four weeks gets shoved in a little deeper.

“
But you can’t force
something that isn’t there,” she adds, just as she gives me a plate
with a pile of scrambled eggs and three slices of bacon. “But he’s
doing what he should. He’s been to two doctors’ appointments with
Diana. They’re going to do another ultrasound in a few weeks to
find out the gender of the baby. I think he is excited for
that.”

I try to smile, but it just hurts. “I
bet it’s a girl,” I say.

Robin smiles too. “I think he’d be
adorable with a flock of little girls.”

“
Hey,” Robert says
defensively. “I need some grandsons. Maybe I’ll live long enough to
coach two generations of McCain players.”

“
You will,” Robin says,
giving him a stern scowl. “Which is why you only get this for
breakfast.”

She pushes a bowl of fruit in his
direction.

“
You’re a mean, mean
woman,” he teases as he stabs a fork into a piece of
pineapple.

“
A mean woman who wants
you around for a long, long time,” she says as she leans over the
bar and presses a kiss to his nose.

They’re adorable and everything I ever
wanted growing up.

I silently wonder if I’ve gotten any
leads on my picture post yet.

“
How are you handling
everything?” Robin says as the sweet moment fades away. She scoops
more pancakes onto a plate. “I can’t imagine this has been
easy.”

I shake my head and swallow a bite of
eggs. “It hasn’t. It’s been really, really hard. But I’m proud of
him. If that makes any sense. He’s doing the right thing. He’s a
good man.”

Robin gives me a sad little smile. “He
is. Always has been,” she adds. “When he was a kid, back in
elementary school there was this little boy that was getting picked
on. Drake wasn’t very big, never has been, but that didn’t stop him
from telling the bully off. He came home with a black eye that
night and was so angry about that boy.”

“
Oh no,” I say with a
little laugh.

Robin nods and chuckles too. “He kept
at it. He couldn’t stand to see anyone picked on. He got beat up a
few more times, but he got it to stop eventually.”

“
He’s always been a good
kid,” Robert says around a mouthful of strawberry. “Never gave us
much of any trouble. Until I caught him with a pack of cigarettes
his senior year.”

“
He told me how he smoked
all through college,” I say with a small wrinkle of my
nose.

“
I guess no one’s
perfect,” Robert says. “Could have killed him for doing that to
himself though. Hope he doesn’t get lung cancer someday ‘cause of
it.”

That brings a rock to my
stomach.

“
You better have saved
some of that for me.”

We all turn to see a sleepy looking
Kale in the doorway of the kitchen. He lurks there with his dark
hair wild, standing in every direction. And wearing nothing but a
pair of boxer briefs.

Everyone chuckles.

“
I need bacon. Now,” he
says as he half zombie walks into the kitchen. “And OJ.”

Robin reaches into the fridge and
pulls out a jug of orange juice and hands it over to him. He
unscrews the cap and starts chugging it down.

“
Don’t worry,” Robin says
with a shake of her head. “That jug is just for him. I’ve got
another for the rest of us.”

“
I thought you and my
brother broke up,” Kale says after a long pull.

“
Kaylee needed somewhere
to spend the night,” Robin pipes up, looking over at me. “Her
apartment got smoked out so we’re giving her a place to spend the
night till she can go home. Isn’t that right, Kaylee?”

“
Uh…” I stutter, trying to
form words.

“
Don’t worry about Drake,”
Robin says. “Sage can’t come up this afternoon anyway. I’ll tell
Drake we’ll have dinner next week. You two don’t have to see each
other.”

“
Awkward,” Kale says as he
shoves three slices of bacon into his mouth at the same
time.

We all chuckle.

“
Thank you,” I say. “I
really appreciate it.”

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

“
So? How’d the dance
go?”

Hannah practically bounces when the
bell rings at the end of second period. A ridiculous smile spreads
on her face and she sinks into the front desk as everyone clears
out.