Lark (First & Forever 5)

At one point, I finally remembered the house number and texted the address to Dylan. Then I went back to the task at hand. Sometime later, I heard footsteps coming down the hall and shouted, “Dylan?”

“It’s me, baby.”

I unlocked the door and flung it open, pulled Dylan inside, and slammed it behind him. Then I grabbed him in a hug and exclaimed, “Thank you so much for coming to save me!”

He gave me a big squeeze before holding me at arm’s length and grinning as he asked, “Why are you partially mummified?”

“I needed something to wear. I tried for shorts at first, but the crotch was too complicated so I went with a miniskirt instead. Then I had some time to kill, so I made a top and some accessories.”

At first, I’d just wound the toilet paper around myself and tucked the end in to make a skirt and a skinny tube top. But then I’d discovered I could twist it into a pretty sturdy rope, and that opened up a bunch of possibilities. I used it to make straps for my bikini top and tied them behind my neck. Then I made two bangle bracelets, a belt, and a headband. I would have tried for some sandals next, but Dylan got there before I could start them.

He burst out laughing as he pulled me into his arms and hugged me again. Then he said, “God, I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. You can go back to your you-time after this if you want, but I’m hoping you’ll stay for a bit and make out first.”

“I’m done with my me-time. In fact, I was planning to call you tomorrow. We have a lot to talk about, but first we should grab some towels and take care of the kitchen floor.”

He started to reach for the door handle, and I asked, “What about the raccoon? Did you see him?”

“I did. She was on the kitchen counter when I came in, gorging herself on a honeydew melon. The door had actually swung shut so she couldn’t leave, but I opened it for her and attempted to shoo her out. She tried hissing at me when I got too close, but she gave up on that when it didn’t scare me off. Then she jumped off the counter with a chunk of melon in her mouth and ran out the back door, and I closed it behind her. I realized why she’d been acting aggressively when I saw three baby raccoons follow her over the back fence.”

“Aw, she was acting like a mama bear and protecting her babies!”

He grinned and asked, “Why do bears get all the credit? From what I saw, mama raccoons are pretty tough, too.”

“I think it’s the teeth, and the mauling.” I led the way to the linen closet and grabbed an armload of beach towels from the bottom shelf. Then I asked, “So, what’s with the weird ooze in the kitchen? It looked too wholesome for a demonic possession. Bleeding walls, sure. White, fluffy foam? Not so much.”

I’d been trying to make him laugh again with that comment, and it worked. Then he explained, “It looks like you used dishwashing liquid in the dishwasher, so it foamed up and spilled out.”

“Of course I did. It’s right there in the name, dishwashing liquid.”

“That’s for hand-washing. There’s a special detergent for the machine.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that. I’d never used a dishwasher before.” I glanced at Dylan and muttered, “That probably makes me sound like such a hillbilly.”

He shrugged and told me, “I didn’t have a dishwasher either when I was growing up. My parents didn’t think it was worth chopping up the vintage kitchen in our Victorian to make one fit.”

“I just feel clueless and unsophisticated in a place like this. Theo wrote up a whole page of instructions, just on what I should and shouldn’t do to the stone counter. He must have realized I had no idea what I was doing. They left me a bunch of healthy food too, and I don’t even know what some of it is. It seems so wasteful to just let it go bad.”

“I can probably help with that.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

When he’d arrived, Dylan had opened the dishwasher to turn it off. The inside was full of suds, but I’d deal with that in the morning. After we dried the floor, we put the towels in the laundry room. I’d deal with them tomorrow, too.

For now, all I cared about was the fact that my Dylan was back.

22

Dylan

As soon as I got a good look at what Lark was wearing, I burst out laughing. He was just such pure joy. No one else would ever do something like that. It wasn’t just that he’d made himself a toilet paper outfit, he’d even accessorized it.

Right then, after almost a week apart, I knew I couldn’t stay away from him another minute. Life without Lark was barely a life at all.

It made me realize how much I needed him. Now I saw he needed me, too—not to be perfect, or a pillar of strength. He just needed me to be there for him. We both knew he could have handled this mini-crisis on his own, but like so much in life, it felt better dealing with it as a team.

After we cleaned up the foamy kitchen floor and put the towels in the laundry room, I followed Lark to the guest room. It was about as impersonal as my hotel room, but he’d tried to make it cozy by bringing a few things from home. Seeing the little piñata I’d bought him on the nightstand touched my heart. There was just something so poignant about the way he could latch onto something like that, something other people would see little value in, and absolutely cherish it.