the window onto the cold, gray skies of winter outside.
I glance down at our feet.
“Do you have a favorite foot?” I ask Maya, smiling down at our feet on the other end of the couch as we lie together.
She giggles, wiggling her toes in her socks. “My right one is pretty damn great. But that left…I’ve got that weird pinky toe. Really gives me some character. And it’s the flaws that make us unique, you know.”
I crack up. “Oh, Maya. Has anyone ever told you that you’re quite special? Because you are. I want to wrap you up and take you with me everywhere I go.”
“How about you just wrap me up right now, for real? Oh! I love this song,” she comments as the song on the stereo changes to “It’s Natural,” which is one of the first Red Lemons songs they ever came out with.
My mind wanders off with the song for a while, and when I come back I see a tear rolling down Maya’s cheek while she’s smiling.
“What does it make you think of?” I ask.
“I’m just thinking about when my mom and dad dropped me off at school together my freshman year. As soon as they left, I heard this song playing from someone’s room. It might even have been Finn’s room. Anyway, I was just thinking about my na?ve state of mind on that day. And my parents, I wonder what they talked about on the ride back to Traverse City from Galesburg. That’s like an eight-hour drive, can you imagine? They were probably finalizing their divorce as soon as they shut the door leaving campus.”
“Wow. That’s heavy.”
“Sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. So that’s why you were crying?”
“No. I was crying because I just hope my parents know that I love them in spite of everything. And I hope they’re happy. I think they are.”
I tilt her jaw toward me, and level her with a kiss. “They do know you love them. Trust me.”
“How can I be sure?”
“Maya, you’re the most love-filled person I’ve ever met.”
“I just hope I don’t let them down somehow.”
“That’s a really crazy story about them probably being ready for divorce when they dropped you off at college. Do you ever think that you were kind of holding them together?”
She chuckles. “Definitely. I’m the glue girl of the family. I’m the one who can get everyone to laugh, keep everyone on the same page at family events.”
“I can see that. You just have a powerful energy field. I can feel it right now.”
“I love it when you talk Shaman to me.” She sighs.
We’re silent for a few minutes, letting the music take over, and it does. The music cuts deep into us, and Maya sheds another tear. Music to make it through tough times. And music to remember the bittersweet moments of life. The dual happiness and sadness of your parents loving you so much they drop you off at college together, knowing all the while they’re about to start a new chapter in their own separate lives.
The song changes to another one, “This Love of Ours.”
Maya and I lie down, our warm bodies pressed together and I notice we’re breathing as one.
“Grant, have you ever had a really close relationship?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let me back up. Do you think this is a close relationship?”
“Closest I’ve ever had.”
I feel her body shiver when I say that.
“Me too.”
She nuzzles into me, and I take a deep inhale of her scent.
“You are a sorceress,” I swallow.
A pang of anxiety creeps up in my chest as I think about the baseball season. I’ve never had a person in power who has been just frankly out to get me. Usually I figure life is a fair fight, but this doesn’t seem fair. I try to process this new angle of my dragon.
“How’s your death going?” I say, poking her leg. “Do you feel resurrected yet?”
“Honestly?”
“Yes, honestly.”
She sighs. “My parents were always attracted to one another and affectionate. So how do I deal with the fact that they couldn’t just stay together forever? Their breakup just came out of nowhere. I had always felt, to a degree, like I was the center of my parents’ world being their only daughter. My brothers were great, we all were a unit, you know? Not like we were totally rich or something, but along with my scholarships—which are gone now, by the way because of my stupid grade—they’re paying for a lot of my college. If they weren’t…I just couldn’t