Page 3 of Please Open Me
“Don’t say it,” she warned.
“Adoctor. Google says you have Lupus.”
But, internet doctors were always prone to wishing the worst on someone with a minor infliction. Like the time Cameron had a headache and onlineforums convinced me he was having a stroke. The emergency room laughed at me that night, but Cameron thought it wassweetI’d gotten so worked up. Easy for him to say when he wasn’t the one who looked like an idiot.
“What about you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she accused, obviously turning the tides of the conversation.
I was as willing to talk about my nightmares as she was to go to the hospital.
“I need a cigarette,” I mumbled, turning over to grab my pack from the nightstand. “You wanna come with?”
She looked over at her book, then to me, then to the silver and blue cardboard in my hand before agreeing. I climbed out first and helped her up before the two of us snuck toward the front of the house.
The first drops of daylight broke through the sky, casting an orange glow on the world as we stepped out onto the porch. I hadn’t bothered to check the time, but if I had to guess, it was a little past five. Sophia and Cameron would be up soon. For now, though, this moment belonged to Mason and I alone.
I flicked the top open and picked a cigarette out before placing it between my lips. She always watched me with the same disgusted look she’d worn when she found out I’d started smoking when I was thirteen. Still, she kissed me regardless, so that meant it couldn’t be too bad.
“I wish you’d quit,” she mumbled, almost to herself.
I cast her a sideways glance as I exhaled; the smoke curling between us. She wasn’t judging me, she never did, not really. She just…cared.
Without a word, I extended it to her.
She hesitated before plucking it from my fingers with a sigh.
Mason had mentioned a few times that she used to smoke when she first moved back to Lyon. Her dad would buy her the packs, insisting they’d help her shed theexcess weightshe’d picked up in the States.
I nearly rolled my eyes at the memory.
Her habit ended when she shifted from acting to singing, but I had no reason to stop.
She held the filter in front of her lips, and normally this was the point where she would take exactly one puff and hand it back. It was a strange habit, butit was ours, and that’s what mattered. Instead, she hesitated before handing it back and mumbling something about not feeling like it. My brow arched as I took it from her again, the heat of her fingertips still clinging to the paper as I placed it between my lips.
We stood there in silence for a moment, side by side, my arm draped over her shoulders. Together, we watched the sunrise wash pale gold across the edges of the yard. Morning dew clung to the grass, illuminated by the morning glow.
It should have been peaceful.
Instead, I was stuck in the echo of that dream, her white dress, Dale’s rotting smile, the fire.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked, barely louder than the breeze.
My fingers tightened around the cigarette.
“Mhm,” I lied.
She had a look in her eye that suggested she was about to press the issue, and I couldn’t let that happen. Before she could open her mouth, I snuffed my cigarette out on the railing and stretched.
“Come on, Mama. The house will be up soon, and we have a routine to keep.”
By the time I finished my shower, the illusion of peace had been completely broken. The house was alive with the chaos that came with five adults, three children, two cats, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Rosie was wailing, probably because someone haddaredto sit her down for more than thirty seconds. Juniperinsistedthat her hair was not wet enough for Lucian to brush yet, while Jasper chased the orange cat with a sock puppet, ignoring Lucian’s warning that he was going to get scratched.
Cameron, somehow, was completely calm at the stove. The air was thick with the smell of bacon and I walked by, kissed him on the cheek, and grabbed a piece off the paper-towel-lined plate. I then made my way to the coffee pot, only stopping to kiss Mason and snag Rosie out of her counter seat.
The infant shrieked with joy before bunching the dark material of my shirt in her slobbery fists. I hadn’t exactly been fond of Rosemary at first, not with everything else going on at the time of her arrival. But, the tot had grown on me, andIwas her favorite person. At least, that’s what I told myself.
Mason gave me a tired smile before taking a drink of her tea and returning to her stack of lunch boxes.
