I Understand Now

"This is all so crazy," I said.

Gordon wrung his hands and tapped his foot. He was pacing for a bit, but he stopped after he dumped his pack of cigarettes into the trash; lighter and everything. I guessed he was serious about quitting smoking.

"Gordon." I stopped him by taking a hold of his hand. "You're making me nervous."

"This is the longest I've been without a cigarette and I'm already nervous," he said.

"Can something go bad?"

"Well, no." Gordon bit his lip and looked at me. "I'm more nervous about you."

I stared at him. "What about me?"

"There's so much to explain. About the fairies, me, about Liam and my mom. Some of which I can't explain, like what happened to your mom. But that's because even I don't know. I'm not an all-knowing being."

"You know more than I do," I said. "And you've lived this for a long time."

"That's true." He looked away. "I'm not used to explaining. I'm used to asking questions. I'm used to learning. I am not good at elaborating."

"There's always time to try," I said.

Gordon's green eyes trailed up to mine again, and for the first time, I saw him upset. He was worried.

"You did a good job earlier," I said. "With the good and bad fairies."

"That was spontaneous. I didn't think that through."

"Damn it, Gordon, you sound like me now." I leaned over and kissed his forehead. "Where's that cocky, confident guy with the snarky grin that jabs people with pencils?"

That put a grin on his face. "He's still here."

Then we both heard a scream from inside the house. Gordon tightened his hand on mine to keep me from bolting inside. I whipped around to look at him, my heart pounding, but he only shook his head.

"I'm just going to say this without an explanation," he said. "Your mom will get better."