"Hey-lo," Lorelei said, walking up to Teddy with her little brother trailing behind her.
"Hi," he said, reserved.
She took a seat next to him on the bench he was sitting on in the park. It was late afternoon, and her hangover was fading.
"Can I drop kick you in the head?" Alexander asked Teddy conversationally.
Teddy looked at Lorelei for help.
She dug through her bag and handed her brother two one-dollar bills. "Don't spend that all in one place now. And buy me something pretty."
When he took off singing about his newfound wealth, Lorelei turned to Teddy. "Me and the little monster were on our way to Peterson's. What are you doing here all by your lonesome?"
He shrugged. "Didn't want to be home."
"Oh," she said, unsure of what else to say. "So, are you feeling as sick as I do?"
He shrugged again.
"Teddy, what's wrong?" she asked, a quiet plea in her grey eyes.
"I dreamt about you last night," he said, clasping her hand with both of his.
"That's what's wrong?"
"No. That's all that's right."
"Brooke?" Gordie gently tapped on her half-open door. "Can I come in?"
"I guess," she muttered.
He slipped inside and shut the door. "Let's talk."
"About what?" she asked in a dull voice. She was sitting on her bed, reading. She looked sick and worn out. She wasn't pretty today.
"I don't know. Let's just talk."
"My mom just reamed me out, Gordie. I don't know if I want to sit through one of your talks, all right?"
"I've come to the conclusion that I think I love you."
"What the hell?"
"You were so weak last night, Brooke, and at first it disgusted me," he said. "But then I wanted to make everything right for you. I wanted to make it all go away. I just realized that for everything to be right for you, I can't go away."
"Gordie--"
"Denny's going to stick with me for the rest of my life. You understand that. You don't just go, 'move on, kid, you're not gonna bring him back by moping around.' You never tell me what I want to hear. Instead I always hear what I need to hear from you. I don't want to let you leave my life like Denny did. I didn't have a choice with him but I do with you and I'm not going to screw it all up this time."
Brooke went wide-eyed. "Was it just the ringing in my head or did you actually say that?"
"I certainly hope I just said that, because I've been rehearsing it in front of the mirror for the past twenty minutes."
"My dad came home."
Lorelei's jaw dropped. "Holy crap."
"I don't want it all to suck again, Lore," he said, looking so much like a little boy that it nearly broke her heart. "I was starting to get used to being happy. I don't want to go back to being that kid he made me be. I don't want him to be my hero again."
Her eyes searched his face. She watched, as he seemed to teeter on the brink of falling apart. Shaking her head, she slipped her arm around him and pulled him into a hug. "Maybe he's changing, Teddy. Maybe he found the hero he used to be."
"No," he said, breathing in the scent of her. It only he could just pause everything and keep it like this, right here, with her. "That hero died in the war. Heroes don't get locked in mental institutions. My dad nearly killed me when I was a kid--when I still looked up to him and wanted to be just like him, he just about killed me. He fucked me up so that I never had a chance to be…good. Heroes don't do that."
"Teddy, you're better than any hero. You'll be okay." She played with his thick sandy hair soothingly. "And if you ever don't feel up to being okay, you know where to find me."
"I don't know how I managed to find you while I kept screwing up," he muttered, laying his head on her shoulder and leaning into her with heavy trust. "Everything I've ever done has been stupid or reckless and always wrong so where did I go right?"
Lorelei smiled. "I love you, Teddy."
For the first time in his battered life, he didn't immediately dismiss those words as a lie.
