Return To You - Leia Stone Page 0,94

You two were inseparable."

A few months ago, my answer would've been completely different than it is tonight. I grin and say, "We parted ways for a while, but we're back together now."

He returns the smile, genuinely happy. "That's great, man. Good for you guys."

I continue on to the front where I came in, rejoining the surly desk guy. When my dad comes out, he appears sober. Scared straight, I suppose.

"Owen," he greets me, ducking his head.

I can't handle seeing him this way. Standing in the front of a police station, ashamed and a hairsbreadth from having a DUI.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, I steer him towards the door. "Come on, Dad. I'll take you home."

We don't talk on the drive. What is there to say? I feel like yelling, but I can't, because he's not a child and I don’t have the energy. As I pull into the driveway, I put it in park but keep the car running.

My dad meets my gaze in the dim outdoor lights affixed to the front of the house. Taking a deep breath, I tell him, "You're going to a treatment facility somewhere. I don't know where yet."

Dad's eyes widen. "Treatment? Owen, this was a huge mistake, I'll give you that, but I don't need that kind of help. I just need to cut back a little."

My head shakes slowly back and forth. "I made a deal with the cops, Dad. They won't give you a DUI if I get professional help for you."

He frowns and looks out the windshield. The hum of the engine becomes the only sound in the car.

“You’re. Going. To. Treatment.” My voice is stern and it kills me that I’m the parent now, that I have no parent left to lean on.

After a full minute, he sighs. “Fine.”

Reaching out, he opens the passenger door and sticks one leg out. He uses two hands to haul himself from the seat, not because he is still drunk, but because he is getting older. My heart, already shattered by what's happening to Faith, breaks just a little more.

My dad doesn't say anything more. He walks, slow and steady, to his front door and goes inside. After allowing myself a moment to grieve the loss of the dad I once knew, I drive back to Autumn's house. I undress and crawl into her bed, and it's almost as if that middle-of-the-night call never came.

I pull her sleepy, warm body in close to me and nuzzle my face into her neck.

She knows what I need. Her legs part, and I settle between them. She kisses my forehead, my cheeks, my neck, sweet and soft kisses.

Earlier tonight, she needed to fall apart to forget her mom.

Now, I need to lose myself in her to forget my dad.

Somewhere in the quiet, in the muffled sounds we're making, I think of our agreement to be honest with each other so we don't make the same mistakes we made before.

"Don't go," I whisper, sliding into her. “Don’t ever leave my side again.” I look into her eyes, and in them I see my entire future.

Her nails scratch lightly down my back as she brushes a kiss on the corner of my mouth, and whispers words I will hear for the rest of my life.

"I was never going to."

Chapter 26

Autumn

My mom has gone downhill so quickly I'm beginning to wonder if she was powering through just for my sake. If my heart weren't already smashed to bits, it would be broken by the thought of her soldiering through an outward appearance of being okay, only to collapse once she was on her own.

It has been two weeks since we were on the Strip in Vegas; now she can barely get out of bed. The helicopter ride Owen booked has been canceled. Every day I paste on a smile and go into her room, bring her meals she hardly touches, and read to her. She falls asleep by the second paragraph, and the marijuana has stopped helping with her appetite.

How did we get here so fast?

The hospice nurse comes once a day, checking her vitals and her meds. Owen has been sleeping here every night. He wants every last second he can get with her too. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and he’s not beside me. He’s checking her vitals, bringing her fluids, anything he can to make her comfortable.

This morning we both woke up early, the rising sun peeking into my room at