Part 28 (1/2)
”What?” Rei pats the hammock beside him, so I climb on, kneeling in the empty spot. He looks so happy, I can only guess it's because Seth is a free man.
”Taylor's gone into the light.”
He looks stunned for a second. ”You're sure?”
”I'm positive. I just watched her go.”
”Hallelujah!” He pulls me into a full-body hug and falls back into the hammock, taking me down with him. I let out a squeal, just because he's caught me by surprise, then we both realize we're lying in a rather intimate way.
”Um...” There's a lot of awkward s.h.i.+mmying on both our parts until I'm beside him and my head finds that sweet spot on his shoulder.
”Soooo,” I say to break the silence, ”she wanted you to know she's sorry she accidentally stabbed you.”
Rei nods, then rests his chin on top of my head.
”Is Seth okay?”
”Seth is excellent! They let him out right after we left. He's coming over later this afternoon.”
What must Seth think? Anna Rogan was ready to testify against him and send him to jail for a crime he didn't commit. ”Is he mad at me?” I have to ask.
”No,” Rei sounds surprised. ”Why would he be mad at you? I told him you hit your head and your memory was a mess. Although he thinks he saw you in the woods the day we were caught in New York.”
”Yeah, I figured he saw me.”
”I didn't even think of it, there was so much going on. I'll have to figure out a way to talk us out of that one.” Rei strums his fingers against my shoulder.
”Is it the worst thing if he knew? I mean maybe not the part about how I healed your back, but I don't want Seth to think he's crazy on top of everything else.”
”I don't know. I think the worst thing would be if you left your body and someone else got in,” Rei admits. ”Or if you got sucked into a black hole.”
I poke him in the stomach. ”Why are you so paranoid about black holes?”
He laughs. ”I just want you to be safe.”
There cannot be a better place anywhere in the universe than right here, lying next to Rei. I rest my hand on his chest, just over his heart, and he weaves his fingers through mine. It's an almost perfect moment. But what would I do for this boy I have known my entire life? Would I give up the keys to the universe? I would. ”I don't want you to worry, Rei. I can't guarantee I won't ever slip out during a dream, but if you'd feel better, I won't leave again intentionally.”
He's just staring off into the trees. ”I wouldn't ask you to do that, Anna. I know you love going places, and I wouldn't stick you in a box like that. It's no fun in a box. Just ... maybe can you stay on earth?”
”I can do that.” I think. But as right as it feels to cuddle up in this hammock, something still feels wrong, and I realize what I can't do is sit here in Rei's box with him and worry about Yumi. ”You know if your mom comes home and sees us lying on this hammock together, she'll have a fit.”
”Then she has a fit.”
”But what if she's right?” That thought is so painful, but I want him to know what's making me uncomfortable here. ”What happens when you go off to college? You'll meet other girls who don't have alcoholic DNA and who actually have some common sense steering their train of thought.”
”Anna,” Rei begins, but I lean up on my elbow and put my fingers on his lips to shush him.
”And you are brilliant and you're going to do something amazing with your life, and what am I going to do?”
Rei sighs. ”You don't have defective DNA. And you don't even know where I want to go to college or what I want to do with my life.”
”Of course I don't. You've never told me.”
”Because I was afraid to admit it. But the one good thing Taylor did while she was here was make me realize I don't have to follow the line my mother drew for me. Just because I'm good at math and science doesn't mean I want a career in either of them. I know what I want to do, and she's not going to like it, but she has to accept that it's my decision, not hers.”
”What do you want to do?”
”I want to go to the University of Vermont,” he says. ”I want to take a double major in nutrition and business, then I want to get an MBA, open up a few stores like my parents' and franchise them.” He looks at me hopefully. ”What do you think?”
Wow. He's obviously given this some serious thought. There is just one problem. ”So if you have a degree in nutrition, will you give me grief every time I eat a cookie?”
”No.”
”Then I love it! Will you hire me to teach the little kids' yoga cla.s.s?”
”Is that what you really want to do?”
What do I really want to do? A week ago I would have said that I would love to teach little kids yoga, but now I feel like I've discovered this gift of healing for a reason. Maybe there is a way to channel that healing energy to do some good in a way that doesn't draw too much attention to myself.