Page 75 of Backward Motion

“What’s your ex like?”

Sam let out a nervous laugh. “What do you mean?”

“Like, what was your dynamic?”

“Are we talking sex?”

“No, just in general.” Connor thrummed the fingers of his left hand against the steering wheel. “For example, if he suggested a place to eat, would you guys decide together?”

Sam shrugged. “I don’t really get hung up on that sort of thing.”

“So you’d go along with his suggestion?”

“I guess.”

“What about when you didn’t?”

Sam opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. He couldn’t for the life of him remember a time when he hadn’t. Felix was always adamant and convincing and knew all the best places—“You’ll love it, Sam.” And Sam had gone. Even if he didn’t always love it.

“Honestly, I can’t remember. But it just didn’t feel like the kind of thing worth fighting about.”

“Okay. What was worth fighting about? Where would you draw the line?”

Fucking other people.But Sam hadn’t been very good at pushing his point on that either. “Well, I was never okay with his fidelity issues.”

Connor turned to him, looking surprised. “He cheated on you? Is that why you guys broke up?”

Sam shook his head. “It’s embarrassing to admit, but no, that wasn’t enough for me to break things off.”

Connor fell silent. After a moment, he spoke. “Did he make you feel like what you had to say wasn’t worth hearing?”

Sam’s throat tightened, and he was afraid if he spoke, his voice would crack. Not that there was anything to say. Connor was right.

“I want you to know that I’m listening,” Connor said quietly, looking straight ahead. “Don’t be afraid to speak up with me. You have a right to be heard, even if he didn’t think so.”

Sam blinked back tears and nodded. Then Connor squeezed his hand, and Sam squeezed it back.

Chapter Thirty-Five

By the time Connor pulled the van into the self-storage facility in Round Rock, it was already getting dark. They drove between the squat concrete units with matching white roller doors until they stopped outside number 147. Sam rummaged in his bag for the key his parents had given him for the unit. He hadn’t left much in Austin. He’d moved into a furnished apartment so only had to buy kitchenware and linens, but he had splurged on a brand-new bed frame and mattress, which he was thrilled to be reunited with after far too long on the rollaway cot. His dad had packed up whatever else was in his apartment and dropped it off here after Sam flew back to Nebraska with his mom.

They both got out of the van, and Sam felt a tug of apprehension as he approached the roller door. It was like excavating the tomb of his former life. He could barely remember what his stuff looked like.

As if sensing his hesitation, Connor threw an arm around Sam’s shoulders. “It’ll be fine. One step at a time.”

Sam nodded and bent to turn the key in the lock then yanked up the door to reveal a half-filled cavity housing his mattress wrapped in plastic, the bed frame, matching nightstands, and a handful of boxes of varying sizes.

“Think it’ll all fit?” he asked Connor, who was assessing the pile of items. “If it doesn’t, I can dump the frame.”

Connor shook his head, stepping over to the bed frame and pulling a screwdriver from his pocket. “It’ll fit. I can break down theframe and load it in sections. Then we’ll stack the boxes around it.” He’d emptied the back of the van in preparation for the trip, storing his racks of wires and fittings in the workshop at the office.

Not for the first time since they’d left Oakdale, Sam was glad he’d had the sense to accept Connor’s offer to accompany him. For someone as practically challenged as himself, having Connor around was like shacking up with MacGyver—oddly also one of his secret boyhood fantasies.

While Sam went through the boxes and consolidated what he could to save on space, Connor broke the solid wood frame down into slats and stacked them in piles, which he wrapped with furniture pads and secured with packing tape. Together, they carried the piles to the van, and Connor maneuvered them around the cargo hold like he was playing some weird game of Tetris. It took them just shy of an hour to clear out the unit, and to Sam’s surprise and Connor’s smug glee, everything fit with room to spare. Sam ducked into the front office to drop off the unit key and close out the account then returned to where Connor stood by the van and wrapped him in a grateful hug. Above them, the sky was streaked with the last remnants of daylight.

“Do you want to grab something to eat first or get the whole meet-the-ex thing over and done with?” Connor murmured into his hair.

Sam stiffened. He’d been trying not to think about Felix. Their encounter was the part of the trip he’d been dreading most. He wouldn’t be able to relax and enjoy his time in Austin with Connor while it was still there, looming over him.