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Six years ago

SIENNA

They hadn’t let me out ofup so bad for two s in a row that ht I had a stomach virus

But we had both been surprised when the doctor infornant

Mother hadn’t spoken to me the whole way home, and then she’d sent me to my room and ordered me to stay My dad never once came to see me Mother showed up with food at my door three tio to the bathrooone, and I had no one I could tell No one to share this with, and nowI could be sure of was that this baby was safe My father was too religious to make me have an abortion For once I was thankful for his strict beliefs

But I had questions, and I had no one to ask My ht me my meals I didn’t have a phone in my room, and no one had stopped by to seeDustin’s friends had accepted me, but they had never really been my friends

So I sat here in myseat and watched the world outside I watched the people who ca them food It e did here in the South If someone died, you took their family food I never understood that I hadn’t been able to eat for days after Dustin’s death I had cried and slept That had been all I could th I had to keep it together was gone the second I saayne Falco’s shoulders sluined that Dewayne could cry He was so tough and larger than life But in that ain I hated seeing him in so much pain He loved his brother, and Dustin had worshiped Dewayne

At night whenever I closed rave haunted h I kneouldn’t welco back Dustin

We had all lost hi the little life inside me

I touched my stomach reverently, closed my eyes, and dreamed of the child inside What would he or she look like? I wondered if it would have its father’s srow up a Falco or a Roy If the Falcos would accept this baby I knew my parents were upset, but surely Tabby would love this baby

I opened my eyes just as Dewayne walked across the street toward my house Quickly I moved back behind the curtains and watched as he stepped up onto , and I hurried over to my bedroom door to crack it open so I could hear him Why was he here? I hadn’t seen him leave his parents’ house much over the past feeeks

"Hello, Dewayne," entler tone than I’d expected At least she respected the fact that he’d lost his brother She didn’t have to be angry at hilad my dad was at work

"Is Sienna here?" he asked

He was here to seeand lost without Dustin Someone I trusted above anyone else

"No She isn’t here any longer She’s been sent to afacility up North She had issues dealing with everything, and she wasn’t right emotionally"

What?

"Oh Uh, I didn’t realize she’d left IWhen is she co back?"

"I don’t know Not anytime soon," ht here in my bedroom like I had been for a week now Did she honestly plan to keep al? I had to see a doctor at some point

"Is there a number where I can reach her?"

"No She can’t co to you will upset her She needs ti me out to be a crazy person

"Well, when she’s ready to talk to soain, can you please have her call me? I can leavewell I don’t want her to think we don’t care We know she lost hi in ed to inspire How could someone like Dewayne, with his party-boy ways, be so incredibly sweet? He’d been like that my freshman year He always seeive her your number," Mother said in a clipped voice I’d never see Dewayne’s number She’d burn it first

"Thanks Tell her that I ca about her"

"Okay Thank you, Dewayne Tell your parents they are in our prayers You all are"

"Yes, ma’am," he said

I closed my door quietly, then ran back over to myand watched as Dewayne walked away I would find a way to see him and talk to him He’d made the first move, and noas my turn to make a move He would love this baby It was part of Dustin If my parents wanted to lock me up, he could help me escape He was older He would knohat to do I just had to find a way to get to hi before the sun came up, my on, then handed er seat My father was already in the driver’s seat I looked over at him, but he didn’t say a word He didn’t even turn to look at ?" I asked, alood on that story she’d told Dewayne I wasn’t crazy Surely they couldn’t get doctors to keep reed to take you in until you’ve had the baby"

That was the last thing my mother said to me We rode in silence the eleven hours it took to drive to Fort Worth, Texas My father never once acknowledged my existence When we arrived, they unloaded me and handed me my suitcase Spoke in whispered voices with my aunt Cathy, who I had never ood-bye

Present day

DEWAYNE

Micah lay sprawled out over me, fast asleep while Darth Vader kicked ass and took nainal plan had been to watch Pirates of the Caribbean But then Micah said his mother liked Captain Jack and that we had to wait on her to start theto sit here and look at Johnny Fucking Depp I had ejected that DVD really damn fast and stuck in one of the Star Wars discs I didn’t even care which one it was Just so Sienna wasn’t thinking about some other man

Sienna walked into the room with that silky little wrap around her and her hair in damp curls, her face scrubbed free oftoward us