He sensed Dewi’s approach before she even stepped onto the cabin’s porch and opened the front door.
“Hey,” she softly said, sitting next to him and draping an arm around his shoulders.
He tipped his head against hers.“Hey.”
She kissed his temple.“I know asking if you’re okay is a really stupid?—”
“I’m… processing.”
Her breath gently blew across his forehead.“What do you need from me right now?”she quietly asked.
Ken was about to say he didn’t know, but then he took a deep, shuddering breath.“I want to go home,” he said, tears catching him by surprise and prickling his nose as his vision blurred.“I want to go home to Florida and just…”
He didn’t know how to finish that statement.
Her fingers played with his hair.“Our flight is tomorrow afternoon,” she said.
His breath caught.“Oh.I know Peyton said soon, but that was fast.”
Dewi nuzzled his temple.“Once they finished filling me in, I told Peyton we needed to go home,” she said.“That we needed to return to a modicum of normalcy.”
He finally looked at her.“You didn’t have to do that.”
She tipped her head, arching an eyebrow at him, but not responding, and then hegotit.
“Oh.You could hear me in the office.”
“Yeah.”One side of her mouth quirked in an adorable smirk.“I’d be surprised if half the compound couldn’t hear you.I told Hyacinth not to listen, but I heard every word.”She gently poked his arm.“And I missed seeing you give that dude a beatdown!That’ll teach me to let Badger order me out of a room.I missed the fun.”
He sniffled.“What about the Ray Dorland stuff?”
“I can make calls from Florida just as easily as I can from Idaho.So can Badger.When Dorland lands in Idaho, only Primes and Trent will be there to meet him.”
“We’re all going to Florida?”
“Yep.You, me, Gillian, Tam, Asia, and the kids, obviously.Plus, Da and Badger.Everyone.Trent’s staying here to run the business end on-site.It’s summer.We’re telling Asia’s kids it’s a vacation.”
“What about Peyton being alive?”
She followed his question perfectly.“We’ll tell Asia and the kids once they’re all in Florida.Less chances of it accidentally slipping out somehow.”
“How are we all flying at the last minute?”he asked.
“Charter flight.Pack-owned company.We’ll have to refuel along the way, but they’ll land us at a small private airstrip in Wesley Chapel, not far from the house, so we don’t even need to deal with TSA bullshit.”
“Oh.Okay.”
She leaned back enough that she could look him in the eyes.“Hope you don’t mind us having a houseful of hellions for several weeks.”
He finally felt like smiling a little.“It’ll be fun having them around.”
“Chances are, we won’t get them out of the pool when they are at the house and not out at amusement parks and stuff.And we can take them to the beach.”
“I know the planning, for the lab ra?—”
She kissed him, gently, lingering.“Let’s not talk about that,” she said.“Not right now.”
He nodded.“Okay.”Sniffling, he returned his focus to Lyssa.“What about Hyacinth and Donnel?”
