More Than Forever
Page 25

I nod. Not for me or my Dad, but for Cameron. Because he said we. It's something we should do.
Cam and I decide on Implanon—a tiny rod that gets implanted just under the skin on my arm and lasts for three years. Cam hates it. He thinks it should be him doing something, not me. He cringes as he watches it get inserted. "I'm sorry," he whispers, but he has absolutely nothing to be sorry for.
*
I thought that Dad would drive Cameron back to his house, but he doesn't. He drives us home and asks us to wait at the dining table. "I'm scared," I tell Cameron.
He puts his arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple. "You don't need to be scared, Luce. You never have to be scared when I'm here."
The scraping of a chair has us pulling apart. Dad sits opposite us, his gaze moving from me to Cam, and back again. Then slowly, he pushes a piece of paper toward me. A brochure. Family counseling. I look up at him. "I don't need counseling."
Cam settles his hand on my leg under the table.
"I know," Dad says. "But I do, Luce. I need help. Not just with raising you kids on my own but coping with having to." He leans his elbows on the table and speaks only to me. "You were absolutely right with what you said yesterday. You don't need me to save you, you have Cameron. But I need saving. And I have no one. The counseling is for me."
I open my mouth to speak but he raises his hand to stop me.
"You can't forgive my actions based on my words. Forgive me when my actions have proven that I deserve it."
*
"I still hate him." I bury my face further into his chest and throw my arm over his stomach. We're lying on my dock, waiting for the sun to set.
"I know. He said some pretty harsh things."
"Do you think your mom would let me live with you until college?"
He laughs softly. "I think I'd find a way to sneak you in and out even if she said no, but I don't think that would solve anything. It wouldn't make things right."
"I know," I sigh.
"I get where he's coming from. It has to be hard for him. And you're his little girl. He's struggling with losing your mom, and now he thinks he's losing you too."
I sit up and lean on my outstretched arm so I can look at his face.
He reaches up and moves my hair away from my eye. "I don't know, Luce. It's hard for me to understand. My dad—" His sigh cuts him off. "It's like he knows I exist, he just doesn't care that I do. He doesn't even pretend to. He doesn't even try. So it's hard for me to see things from your perspective when all I can see is a man trying to heal and make things right with you." He tries to smile but it doesn't work. "All I'm saying is that I think he means well. He just doesn't know how to deal with it. We just need to support him and give him time."
And even though I don't agree with him, I nod anyway, because he did it again. He said we. We need to give him some time.
He smiles and pulls me back into him. "I love this time of day."
"Sunset?"
"Yeah. You wanna know why?"
I nod against his chest.
"Because it reminds me of us."
"How?"
"Because it's eternal, the rise and fall of the sun. It's forever. Just like us."
 
 
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

-CAMERON- "Hey, you wanna hear something really lame?"
She smiles and shuts her locker door. "What?"
"Mom, Mark and I do this thing a couple of nights a year. It's called Movie Madness."
"What do you do in said Movie Madness?"
"We have a movie marathon." She hands me her books so she can tie up her hair. It used to be a dark brown, but the summer sun has made it lighter than I've ever seen. She asked me if she should dye it—make it lighter again. I told her she didn't need to. The darker it was the more her blue eyes stood out. She laughed and asked if I'd been reading her books. I didn't really know what that meant, but obviously it was a good thing because it started a make-out session that lasted two hours.
"That sounds cool." She starts to walk away, and I follow, her books still in my hands.
Logan walks past and makes a whipping motion with his hand.
"Fuck you," I mouth.
His head throws back in silent laughter. Then he stops walking and his eyes glisten with amusement. "Hey, Luce," he says, walking up to us.
She turns to him. "Yeah?"
"Did you have a growth spurt or something over the summer?" His eyes wander up and down her body.
"No."
"Oh." He eyes me quickly before returning his gaze to her. "Just seems like these little skirts of yours are getting shorter. Or maybe it's just been a while since I've seen you." He steps forward. "I didn't realize how much I missed you until now." He stretches his arms out, an invitation to hug him.
I wait for her reaction, my fists already balled. Her eyebrows pinch as she looks from him to me, and back again. She shakes her head quickly and ducks under his arm and into mine.
I laugh. "Get your own girlfriend to hug you."
He shakes his head and chuckles. "Jake!" he shouts. "Come hug me!"
Jake walks over with his eyes already narrowed. "Nah, mate, I'm good."
Dylan and his girlfriend Heidi join us and Logan quickly comes up with an excuse to leave. He does it a lot when those two are together. The bell rings and everyone bails. "So what about your movie madness?" Lucy asks, taking her books back.
"Oh, yeah. It's tonight. You wanna come?"
"It's not a family thing?"
I roll my eyes. "You are family."
Ducking her head, she tries to hide her smile. "Okay." She looks back up, her smile still in place, and kisses me longer than she's ever done at school. "I'll see you after school. I love you." And then she's gone.
I stand in the middle of the empty hallway, smiling like an idiot.
"Get to class!" she yells over her shoulder.
I don't even have my books.
***
Once she's climbed into Filmore and clipped her seatbelt on, she turns to me. "What movies are we watching?"
"We watch all of our favorites, mine first, then Mom's and then Marky Mark's."
"What are they?"
"Back to the Future, Aladdin, and Lethal Weapon. And after that, they said we can try to watch your favorite."
She smiles again, that same shy smile from earlier. I move in, kiss her cheek, and start to reverse out of the spot.
We make it a mile home before my car breaks down.
"Stupid Filmore." I kick the tire.
She comes up and wraps her arms around me, trying to calm me. "I feel bad that you spent your money on this. I know you were doing it for me, but you could have got something more reliable."
I sigh. "It doesn't matter. It's done now."
"You don't think it's fixable?"
I shake my head, my smile tight. "It's going to cost more to fix than it's worth. I'm just pissed. It's not your fault. I'm sorry."
She pulls her phone out of her bra. Her skirts and tanks rarely have pockets. "Dad?" she says, holding the phone to her ear.