The Truce

Chapter 22

"I still can't believe this was the big secret," I teased Sebastian when we pulled up outside of the Sunrise Senior Retirement Home. When I asked him what he did on those days that wouldn't work for our tutoring sessions before we'd made up, he acted like it was a big deal. I'd since learned that he worked Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and on Saturday afternoons, he volunteered at the nursing home. In the interest of getting in some actual community service, I decided to join him. Spending more time with him was a nice side benefit.

He shrugged. "You were being nosey, and it was more fun to make you wonder."

I laughed. "I was so mad that I cared. I kept telling myself I didn't, but I couldn't help it."

"I know." He grinned. "You've always been like that. Sweet but proud, and too stubborn to admit it."

I smiled back at him until I remembered something else we hadn't addressed yet. Sensing the shift in my mood, Sebastian watched me curiously.

"You don't have to tell me," I hedged. "But I want you to know that you can."

"Okay..." he said cautiously.

"If you want to talk about your parents."

He frowned.

"It's okay if you don't, but...I'm here."

He looked out the windshield for a minute before he turned back to me. "I'm not sure there's much to talk about. Plenty of people get divorced. I just never thought it would be my parents." His nonchalant tone was forced. Knowing how hard this was for him, I gripped his hand.

"They started fighting a lot when I was in middle school. It got worse and worse, and I just wanted them to stop. But when they finally did stop, it wasn't any better. It was like they didn't care enough to fight anymore. And then after a while, my dad moved out."

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "There was no big traumatic scene or anything. It's not like he cheated on my mom, but... he still left. He abandoned our family... me. He still tries with me. He comes to most of my games and if he has to miss our time together, it's because he's out of town, but it's just not..." He huffed out a breath. "And Jamie is okay, I guess, but she's not my mom. She wants kids, and it's weird to think about him starting a whole new family that I'm not really a part of."

Unable to help it anymore, I took off my seat belt and crawled across the seat to hug him. "I'm so sorry," I said, blinking away tears. "It's not fair."

He held me tightly and after a moment, I felt some tension in his body ease. "You're right, it's not. It completely sucks."

I clung more closely. "I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed someone."

"You're here now."

I pulled away to see his face. "Is there anything..." Feeling stupid, I trailed off. What could I possibly do?

He gave me a sad smile. "Just what you're doing. Be with me. I hate having to go over there and act like we're this happy almost family. I don't want to cut him off or hate him. He's still my dad. It's just...hard."

I nodded, completely understanding the sentiment. I had no idea how I'd deal with something like this. Giving him a quick kiss, I stared into his amber eyes. "Any time you need me. I promise."

Closing his eyes, he rested his forehead against mine. "Thanks."

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When we walked into the nursing home, I was reminded of how much I hated that old person smell. This place was pretty clean, so it wasn't overwhelming, but it was still there under the air freshener and disinfectant. But I didn't want to look like a spoiled brat, so I pretended I didn't notice.

A woman who looked to be about sixty, wearing a nurses uniform smiled when she saw us. "Sebastian! How's our favorite volunteer?"

He chuckled. "Hi, Mrs. Keller. I brought back up today."

She smiled at me. "I can see that. How are you, Honey?"

"Good," I said. "I'm Michaela."

"Nice to meet you, Michaela. Since you're with Sebastian, I'm going to assume you're a good kid." She looked at him. "Quite a few of the residents need help with some simple tasks. From what I remember, there's a lot involving things on top shelves."

Sebastian smiled. "I'll get right on that."

Mrs. Keller nodded. "Start with room twenty and work your way down the hall."

He squeezed my hand and then walked away.

"What sort of things would you like to help with?" She gave me her attention again.

"I'm not sure..." I probably should have asked Sebastian about that.

She wasn't discouraged. "Well, you could either do some odd jobs or you could spend time with the residents. They love getting visitors."

"Oh..." For some reason that sounded scary. I was never the most outgoing person anyway, but I didn't have a clue what to say to any of these people. What if one of them had a problem? What if one of them had a heart attack?

The woman smiled, noting my unease. "Maybe we can work up to that. For now, let's start small. The garbage behind the desk and in all the main areas need to be emptied. There's a janitor's closet at the end of the hall where you'll find everything you need. Just ask whoever is at the desk where to go when you're done and then come find me for your next job."

Relieved at the simple assignment, I said, "okay," and went to get started.

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The task didn't take very long. What took the most time was actually locating each trash can. There seemed to be hundreds of those little plastic bins spread around the building. After I finished with that, Mrs. Keller had me collect all the lunch trays from the residents' rooms. It was absolutely disgusting, but I was glad I didn't actually have to sort through any of it myself. I just loaded them onto a big cart and delivered them to the kitchen.

My final job of the day was washing windows near the entrance. There seemed to be an endless number of them, so I stayed put for quite a while. And it was actually pretty entertaining.

Mrs. Ackerman, an adorable little old lady would wander out to the front desk every fifteen minutes to ask about her cat. Animals weren't allowed, so she didn't have a cat. At first, I thought it was kind of mean of them to tell her that they were looking for him, but after the third or fourth time, I realized that she didn't remember being told anything. Playing along had to get old, but each time, the nurses would patiently tell her something comforting and send her back to her room.

Mr. Thornton kept walking around, hitting on all the women. For someone else, it might have been creepy, but he was like your great grandpa, and it was actually kind of cute. He wore a big dorky bow tie and suspenders, and he had the cheesiest lines. Obviously used to his flirting, the nurses would just play along and laugh.

Several residents complained about the flavor of jello at lunch or that there wasn't a bingo game today or any number of other silly things. Some tattled on other people, and some got in loud arguments over games of bridge or TV shows.

"We're watching General Hospital, you bag of crap!" one old lady screamed at another, making me crack up as I scrubbed the window in front of me. I decided then that these people weren't so scary. Next time I planned to try to actually interact with them. If nothing else, I would come out of it with some good stories.

What was less amusing was seeing just how popular Sebastian was with the younger nurses and other female employees. I was pretty used to girls giving him attention, but that didn't mean I liked watching them flirt with him. One girl in particular, Kylie, was more bold than the others. She constantly seemed to need him for something, and she found lots of opportunities to touch him in some way.

I didn't want to be the jealous girlfriend - especially since we never said we were official - but it was difficult not to glare at Kylie after a very short amount of time. I'm not sure if my feelings were so strong because of what happened with Kennedy and Scott or because I just felt so much more for Sebastian, but by the time we were finished for the day, I had a very strong urge to smack Kylie.