Page 27 of Everything We Found

Her mouth quirked. “What do you think?”

“Same.”

“Have you been up this whole time?”

He nodded, his expression somber as he looked at the rug underneath his feet.

“Well,” Nadia said, pushing up from the chair. “Since sleeping seems to be off the table, I’m going to make some coffee. Want a cup?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Relieved to have something to do with her hands, Nadia set about brewing coffee, the simple task sending her mind reeling to those bitter cups she’d shared with Thomas at Joe’s. As she scooped grounds into the filter, memories surfaced from the last time her life had been unraveling around her.

It hadn’t taken long for her parents to separate. The night Lisa kicked Don out was the last night he’d spent at home. Since then, Nadia found solace in her evenings with Thomas, while at home her mom barely moved from the couch, her days spent perpetually in a sleep shirt and robe.

On one particular day, Nadia had unfolded the babysitting money she’d been paid, adding it to the small pile on the kitchen desk where bills went untouched, when she’d come across the final notice from the mortgage company. The warning sent her stomach plummeting. Where would they live if they lost the house?

Unable to stand another moment in the dark house with her mom’s indifference, Nadia announced she was going to Aimee’s. Lisa just stared at the television. Frustrated and at her wits’ end, Nadia grabbed her backpack and left.

She rode her bike to Aimee’s where she found her best friend in the sunroom with James. She was reading on the couch while he painted. Mr. Tierney watched football in the family room.

Dropping her backpack on the floor, Nadia flopped onto the couch opposite Aimee. James waved hello with his paintbrush.Aimee toed Nadia’s thigh though her fuzzy, yellow socks to get her attention. “Have you finished your science project?”

Nadia groaned, her head falling back on the couch. She’d forgotten about the project, the plants she’d bought for her experiment already dead on her windowsill.

“Almost,” she lied. She’d have to speak with Mrs. Wilcox after class tomorrow and beg for an extension. She’d need to come up with a really good excuse because she didn’t want to share with the world what was happening at home.

She also didn’t feel like hanging out at the Tierneys’ right now. They were all so normal compared to Nadia’s situation at home which was just tragic.

She picked up her backpack.

“Where are you going?” Aimee sat up when Nadia stood. She closed her book, her thumb marking her place.

Nadia shrugged.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

Aimee didn’t believe her. But Nadia was already out the door before her friend could call her back.

Nadia rode through the neighborhood wishing her dad wasn’t a jerk and would just send the money. She wished her mom would get off the couch and find a job. She’d been riding for over an hour before she passed Joe’s Diner and saw Thomas’s car parked on the street.

She was hot and sweating, and she wasn’t in the mood for conversation. But that’s what she liked about Thomas. Some days he didn’t talk to her. They just sat at the same table and studied.

Inside, Thomas was seated at their usual table, his back to her. She slid onto the seat across from him. He barely looked up from the forms spread before him. His pencil scratched in answers on narrow rows.

Nadia picked up a plastic menu. She skimmed the selections she now had memorized, salivating over the burgers and sandwiches. Thomas continued to fill out forms as she peeked at him over the menu. Head bent, his rich, brown hair fell loosely over his eyes. He chewed on his bottom lip, brows pulled in tight. She adored that little quirk when he concentrated. It made her feel all sorts of things inside her. She liked it almost as much as the muscles that rippled in his forearm while he wrote. Her gaze trailed over his wrist to the forms, then to the uneaten turkey club by his elbow. Stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, at least five slices of turkey, and oozing with mayo, the sandwich looked mouthwatering.

“Your thinking is fucking loud, Jacobs. Talk to me.”

Nadia snapped the menu upright, hiding her face. Her cheeks flamed. “About what?”

He glanced at her then. “Why you’re here. Why you’re staring at my sandwich.” He flicked his pencil at the plate.

“I wasn’t staring.”

“Hungry?”