“What’s up, kid?”
He hesitated before asking, “Are you ever afraid to fall asleep?”
I cocked my head to the side. “Scared? Like someone’s going to get you in your sleep?”
A slight lift and lowering of his shoulders accompanied his response. “Maybe. But more like, I’m scared of my brain.” He paused. “I have nightmares sometimes,” he whispered.
I remembered a few times Savannah mentioned that Aiden had trouble sleeping and the few times he yelled for her late at night. Savannah said he always told her he couldn’t remember the dreams when she asked him about them.
“Do you know what the nightmares are about?”
His eyes welled up with unshed tears. He nodded.
I leaned in, covering his hand with my much larger one, and squeezed. “Nightmares aren’t anything to be ashamed of. I used to have killer dreams when I was a kid,” I told him. “They frightened me so much that I would run down to my parents’ room and sleep in bed with them.”
“They never kicked you out?”
I let out a smile. “Joel tried once or twice, but my mother told him she'd kick him out of bed before she made me go back to my room.”
“Who's Joel?”
“He’s my father. We call him by his first name.” I shook my head. “Don’t ask.”
“Mama always makes me feel better after a nightmare, too.”
“But you’ve never told her what they’re about.”
“No.” His lips pull downward. “I’m scared someone will take her away from me,” he said in a voice so low, I almost had to ask him to repeat himself.
“Who would take her from you?” I finally asked.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “But my first mom died. What if the same thing happened to Mama Savannah? I would be all by myself, and I’m only a little kid.” Tears filled his eyes.
Shit.
What the hell do you say to that? I knew more than most how painful it was to lose a parent before you were ready.
“I lost my mom, too,” I admitted. “I was older than you are now, but still young.”
The water in Aiden’s eyes spilled over and he began crying. I found myself wrapping him up in my arms and pulling him onto my lap. I stroked his hair as he soaked the front of my T-shirt with his tears.
“I can’t lose my mama,” he croaked out. “She saved me.”
“She saved me, too,” I murmured.
I held onto Aiden until he stopped crying, then I wiped away the remaining tears. I checked the clock. We had plenty of time before he needed to be at school.
“Hey, how about you head upstairs and rewash your face while I put the dishes from breakfast away,” I suggested. “Then there’s something cool I want to show you.”
He nodded and climbed down from my lap. I quickly cleaned up the kitchen and finished just as Aiden came running down the stairs.
“Where are we going?” he asked as he followed me out to the garage to my truck.
“It’s a surprise. But it’s someplace I used to go when I got scared or wanted to get away from my family,” I told him. “Make sure to buckle your seatbelt.”
We pulled out of the driveway. It took about twenty minutes to get to my planned destination. It was a spot outside of the base, but from the overlook, it was a perfect sight to see planes coming and going.
Overhead shone a brilliant blue sky with a few puffy clouds in the air. The temps were still in the high eighties. Down below, I could make out Gaines River and the sounds of traffic from the road we’d just veered off of. But we were the only ones up at the overlook.
