Page 48 of All of Him
Dad ignored my choice of words for once and patted me on the back.
“I still don’t know why I wouldn’t trust him after that though. I mean, really? Ten over? I do ten over all the time. They never would have flipped if someone hadn’t run the light.”
“I know, kiddo,” he sighed. “I just want to be cautious with you, is all. I’m sorry I upset you.”
“I’m glad you told me,” I admitted. “All I knew was the arm thing and that Garrett was gone. Noah is pretty closed off.”
“And I see you twobonding,” he continued, careful with his choice of words. “I just want you to be aware that he’ll never completely get over what happened. When it comes down to it, he watched his brother die in an accident where he was the one driving.”
I cringed, trying to imagine what that had been like for Noah. Every day, he lived with the memory of his brother’s horrific death.
“Thanks for letting me know,” I finished, heading back to my pile of materials.
I grabbed the perforator for the next section of wall and began running it in circles over the floral wallpaper. I didn’t want to think about Noah’s accident anymore, but I was glad I’d been given a little more insight. The more that I knew, the more I could understand. But with that understanding, my heart broke a little more with each piece of information.
“You two aren’t…” Dad started to ask the question I had known was coming, but I turned to face him, pretending to chuck the perforator at him.
“I haveliterallyhad to say no to this question a hundred times this week! Some asshole started a rumor at work, and people think we’re dating.” I let out a little laugh as thoughts of the accident faded. Images of people’s responses throughout the week popped into my head instead. It was a welcome topic change.
Claude had been appalled that Brayden would lie, and he’d even seemed a little disappointed with the truth. I had yet to discuss the tall tale with Noah himself, though. I wondered if he’d even heard anything.
“I’m just making sure everything is okay,” Dad said, starting to walk away. “I’ve got another hour in me, and then I’m going to call it.”
“Sounds good!” I yelled to him as he descended the stairs.
Once I finished the hallway, I still had about a half hour until my dad was done for the day. Instead of calling it quits while I was on a roll, I moved into the first spare bedroom. Blue paint covered three of the walls, but the one behind the bare twin bed had a ridiculously ugly plaid wallpaper. I could tell whoever’s room it had been also hated the paper since at least half of the area was covered in posters.
I didn’t think much about taking them down, laying them carefully on the yellowed mattress. They were sun-damaged anyway, and the tape at the corners ripped a few of them.
“Shit!” I whispered as one of them nearly tore in half.
“Amanda?” Noah called.
I could hear him coming down the hall and tossed the ripped one on the bed. It floated down pathetically, clearly over being on the wall for so many years.
“In here,” I yelled back. I climbed down the stepladder and backed up, admiring the bare wallpaper. “Much better,” I said to myself.
Noah stepped slowly into the room, his eyes pointed directly at the wall I’d just cleared.
“Amanda?” he said shakily.
Something didn’t seem right about his reaction, and I thought for a second that I had done something wrong.
“Sorry,” I said quickly. “I thought you wanted all the wallpaper off…”
“I…I did…I just…” Noah took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes and letting his hands fall gently to his sides.
His fingers stiffly pointed and flexed as if he was trying to grasp ahold of something, anything. He kept repeating the deep breaths without making any moves or opening his eyes, and my heart started to thump heavily in my chest.
“Noah?” I asked, cautiously approaching him. “Are you okay?” Then, I realized we were probably in Garrett’s room. “Shit, I should have asked…”
“It’s okay,” he whispered, though I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or himself.
I made my approach slow but tried to get as close as I could. Noah stepped back and leaned against the wall, his hand finding the center of his chest. His fingers tensed again, as if to clutch his heart and still it.
“Are you okay?” I repeated. It was a dumb question, but it was all I could think of at the moment.
He shook his head, still trying to concentrate on his breathing. It quickened despite his efforts, and he slid down the wall, his butt finally hitting the floor, bracing himself with his elbows on his knees. I knelt down in front of him, no idea how to handle the situation.
