Aaron was right behind her. He closed the lid on the toilet, then sat her on it while he started the shower. As soon as the water was warm, he helped her into the stall.
“Are you going to be okay until I get back?”
She nodded, then walked under the spray and dropped her head, letting the water sluice over her entire body.
Aaron ran to bag up her clothes, added his to it, and then left the bag in the garage. When he got back to the bathroom, Dani hadn’t moved. He grabbed a washcloth and slipped into the shower with her, poured a dollop of shampoo into his hand, and then began washing her hair.
Her shoulders were shaking. She was crying again.
“It’s okay, honey. Me and you. All the way,” he said.
Sean had carried a half rick of wood up to the back porch and then brought an armload into the house and left it by the fireplace.
He could hear the water running in his mother’s bedroom and guessed she was settling in for one of her long soaks in the tub. He kicked off his boots and left them in the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, and went into the living room and turned on the TV. He was still thinking about the crash and the teachers and the kids as he took a quick sip, then hit Mute on the TV because he didn’t want the noise.
They’d all been through hell today. There would be children crying in the night, unable to sleep or waking up from nightmares, and there would be parents holding each other tight in their beds, grateful for the grace that had been shown on their families.
Then Amalie’s face slid through his mind.
He couldn’t get over the randomness of seeing her again and knowing she was living here now. Her story was heartbreaking, and yet somehow, she’d pulled herself up and out of it, all on her own.
He and his mother and brothers had gone through hell, too. But he and his brothers had always known their mother loved them and had their backs.
Amalie was something special, and this full-circle moment they’d had today felt right, like he’d been given something he shouldn’t ignore. He promised her dinner. He was calling her tomorrow.
He sent Aaron and Wiley a text, hoping they were both okay, and then put the phone aside, went to the kitchen to get a bag of pretzels, and came back eating them as he went.
He’d just sat back down when his phone rang. He saw caller ID and was smiling as he answered.
“Hey, little brother! How goes it?” Sean asked.
“I’m homesick,” B.J. said. “I just wanted to hear your voice. Is everyone okay? I sent Mom a text, but she didn’t answer.”
“She’s in the tub,” Sean said.
B.J. chuckled. “Oh, right! That explains it.”
“Are you okay? How do you like being a pastry chef?”
“I’m a sous-chef. It’s a far cry from being head chef, but I’m absorbing everything and loving it. One thing I know I’m never going to be is an asshole chef. So far, most of them are. I don’t know why, but I do not respond well to shouting.”
Sean laughed. “Just don’t hit him. You’ll hurt him,” he said, then heard B.J.’s chuckle in his ear.
“You have no idea. When I left, I guess I wasn’t through growing. As of last week when I went to the gym, I am officially taller than all of you.”
Sean gasped. “Are you kidding me? Are you taller than Cameron?”
“I don’t know how tall Cameron is, but at the moment, I am six foot seven. I think my size is part of the reason the asshole chef never yells at me directly. Just at the whole kitchen in general.”
Sean grinned. “Mom is going to be over the moon.”
“Don’t tell her,” B.J. said. “I want to surprise her.”
“Are you coming home anytime soon?”
“Easter. I’ve already put in the request for a week off. I haven’t been home since Aaron and Dani got married, and I haven’t missed one day of work since I started. They couldn’t deny me the time off, because they knew I’d just quit. Finding sous-chef jobs is easy up here.”
“Oh man, that’s awesome, little brother. I can’t wait to see you. It’s just me and Mom here, now. Wiley moved into Jubilee after he quit the security guard job and went to work for the PD with Aaron.”
