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"I had no idea if I’d ever get to do this again," he said, his voice gruff as his chin grazed the top ofhis hands to ht shiver coiled down --"

"No I’aze drifted to his and caught I didn’t knohat to say

It seemed like Tanner didn’t know either, but after a few seconds, he took uided me over to the couch We sat side by side I expected hio of my hand, but he didn’t "You look a thousand tihed, but it ithout humor I studied our hands "I wish you hadn’t seen me like that"

"I wish that had never happened"

"Me too"

He was quiet for a moment "I don’t knohat to say We only have an hour and I don’t want to waste a second, but all I can do is sit here and stare at you"

Oh gosh, why did he always have to say the right stuff?

"I guess I’ll start with saying I’ me I knew you were okay, but I…I just needed to see it with my own eyes"

"I know…you heard the call go out and that you caht to the hospital," I told hih any of that I just wasn’t ready to…to see you"

"You don’t need to apologize" He squeezedon in here?"

I raised a shoulder and then beca honest I was hiding, and da fro a deep breath, I slippedhim when I had to be honest Weird, but true "I’ve spent a lot of ti"

"Would you…would you tellvoice to this stuff, especially to someone like Tanner, who probably had only ever seen one side of, to cope that way instead of bottling it up…and turning to a bottle

So I told hi toward tomorrow, my restlessness and all those quietmy parents down and how I couldn’t settle on a future I even told him about when I’d taken , to feel like I was free, and I told hi never lasted

When I was done, I was exhausted It was like shedding skin, but all of these things I spoke to Tanner about, it wasn’t the first tis that Dave had snaked out ofafter another