Ben picked up his head and reached his arms out forme.
I gave him a big smile and looked back at Dylan for reassurance. Dylan nodded and grabbed the bag of food from my hands as I took Ben into a big softhug.
“Hey, there big guy,” Iwhispered.
"What made you decide against teaching?" he asked, watching me and Benclosely.
“I wasn’t good at school. I could never sit still and listen. Besides, protecting people fit mebetter.”
We walked into the kitchen as Ben quieted down and nestled into my chest. With my free hand, I started unpacking the bags and placing foodeverywhere.
“How’s Sheri feeling?Better?”
Dylan froze in the doorway; his features turned stoic and pale. His eyes flashed to Addison and backed up toward me.Okay. Something must have happened he didn’t want to talk about in front ofAddison.
He didn’t explain; he just looked at me, offering only a hard, grave shake of hishead.
“Can I have soda? I want soda,” Addison asked, looking up at her father with big puppy dogeyes.
“Addison, you know I don’t like you drinking soda. It’s not good for your teeth,” he said,agitated.
“But Daddy!” she whined. "I'm a big girl, and I wantsoda."
“Why would you want fairy repellent?” I asked nonchalantly as I unwrapped a cheeseburger with my freehand.
“Fairy ‘pellent?” she askedquietly.
“Yeah. Fairy repellent. You know? The sugary stuff that keeps all the fairies away.” I bit into the burger and chewed thoughtfully, making sure I had her full attention. "Sugary things like soda can give little girls cavities, and then when your baby teeth fall out, the tooth fairies don't want them, so they don'tvisit."
“Oh, okay. Milk,pwease,” she said, holding the small bottle that came with her meal up to Dylan toopen.
The rest of the meal was uneventful. Addison told stories about princesses and fairies until all the food placed in front of her was eaten and her eyelids drooped withexhaustion.
“Somebody skipped her nap today,” Dylan whispered to me. “Ben didn’t sleep mucheither.”
Ben slept then, puffing out baby snores on myshoulder.
“I’ll put him in his crib for you. Maybe you should carry Addison tobed?”
We closed the lights as we moved the sleeping children through the house. I only stayed for a few moments, watching Ben breathe, then found Dylan sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway between both children’srooms.
“You okay?” I said, lowering myself to the floor across fromhim.
It was one of those narrow halls, and our limbs seemed to touch in too many places all at once. I scooted over to kill the strange zipping electricity I felt, but only alittle.
“No.” His voicetrembled.
“What happened with Sheri?” I askedsoftly.
"I don't even know," he sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face. "She got discharged without anyone telling me. I keep calling her mother, but no one isanswering."
“Jesus, really? I’m sorry you have to deal with all theworrying.”
I remembered his face when he first found out she was missing, and then the agonizing way he hugged me, a stranger, when they were wheeling her into the ambulance. My chest tightenedpainfully.
“I’m just…it feels surreal almost. I’m just lost, out of control, and I’m not the one with the drugproblem.”
“Yeah, well, one of the worst things in the world is having to watch someone you love drown in the storm they made all by themselves.” I took a deep, slow breath and shook my head. “It fucks with your head. Changes you completely,” I said with a sharp, bitterlaugh.
