“I wish you’d called me. I would’ve come over and helped. How’d you get it loaded?”
“I paid one of my neighbors to help with the couch, my mattress, and JJ’s furniture.”
“So…I know we couldn’t talk a lot around her. Do you feel like filling in some details? You don’t have to if you don’t feel up to it.”
Hank sighed and went through the story. Including the unexpected and amazing kindness that afternoon, courtesy of Eliza McElroy and her friend, June. By the time he finished, he was blinking tears away. “And now, here we are.” He looked at Dox and found his friend watching him.
“Anytime you need something—for her, for you, doesn’t matter,” Dox said. “Youcallme. Youaskme. Fuck pride, fuck thinking you’re a burden or whatever.Promiseme. I’ll be pissed off if youdon’task me.”
Hank’s breath hitched again as he nodded. “I promise.”
“If she’s sick and needs to go to the doctor, or if you need someone to stay home with her, I know Marcia and Derrick will let me work from home, because they let parents do that when their kids are sick. I can come here and stay with her, or you can bring her to me at my place.”
Hank nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
He smiled. “If Mom and Dad still lived here I know they’d volunteer to help out, too. They’re supposed to come down for Christmas to visit. Wait until I tell them about her. They’ll adopt her as a granddaughter.”
Hank sadly smiled. “I miss your parents.”
“They’re on Facebook. You should contact them. I know they’d love to hear from you. Especially now.”
“I will.” Not that night, though. He needed to recover from his emotions from today, first. His soul felt raw, grated—humbled. “I feel like I’ve been lost in the wilderness forever.”
“Well, now that you’re back,” Dox said, “if you think I’m letting you get lost again, you’re crazy.”
It was a little before ten when Dox left, but not until after giving him another long, hard hug.
Damn, it felt good to have someone to hug again, and it wasn’t weird, because it was Dox.
“I’ll come by for dinner tomorrow,” Dox told him. “I’ll bring stuff and cook for us again.”
“Are you sure? Oh, wait. Mrs. McElroy invited all of us—you, too—to dinner tomorrow night.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Hank pulled his phone out and texted him the address.
“Okay.” Dox looked at his phone. “Oh. I know where that is. I’ll come by and pick you two up and we can ride together. Just let me know what time.”
“Sure. I’ll text her in the morning and ask.”
Hank walked him outside. One more hug before Hank released him and stepped back, despite wishing he could stand there all night hugging him. It just felt…damnedgood to get a frickinghug.
“I’m really glad you’re back,” Dox said.
“Me, too.” Hank stood there and watched as he got into his car and drove off, waving at him.
Finally, it feels like life is back on the right track.
