It doesn’t really look much different from other places. The only real difference is that the temperature outside the truck is reading seventy-eight degrees. Much warmer than anywhere else in the fall.
“Yeah,” she responds, drawing my attention back to her.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I ask hesitantly.
She blows out a deep breath and nods. “I do. Trust me, there is no place in the world safer than with my brother. He’s a good guy—a little intimidating—but he’s solid. He won’t let anything happen to you or the kids.”
“Where are we?” my son groans from the bunk.
Bertha turns and smiles at him. “We’re at my brother’s house. Come on. Grab your sister, and I’ll introduce you to him.”
Before he can respond, she jumps out of her rig and shuts the door.
“Mom, are you sure this is a good idea?” he asks hesitantly.
I offer him a brittle smile and lie. “Yes, now come on.”
I push open the heavy door and jump down. My legs shake with the impact of my landing, making me whimper. My body hurts, not just from sitting in one spot for so long, but fromthe beating I took before I ran. I’m pretty sure something was broken that should have been fixed. It’s been too long now, though. Whatever it was has likely healed wrong.
At least my bruises have faded, though.
I help the kids out of the truck and shut the door. As I round the hood with their hands in mine, the front door opens, and a man steps out. Instinctively, I take a step back. The man isn’t massive. In fact, he’s on the slimmer side, but there’s no denying that he’s fit. He’s got on a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans with motorcycle boots. His hair is light brown and cut short on the sides.
He looks nothing like his sister.
“Colin!” she squeals.
It’s so unlike her that it catches me off guard.
I watch as she rushes across his yard and throws herself into his arms. Envy rolls through me as I watch the siblings interact. Even though I’m a little jealous that she has someone in her life like that, I can’t help but feel a little hopeful that maybe one day, years from now, Emily will rush to Tanner like that. I hope they will always have a solid relationship with each other.
When Bertha steps back, she waves us over.
Reluctantly, the kids and I approach.
“Jane, this is my brother, Colin. Colin, this is my friend, Jane,” she says.
Colin holds out his hand. “Hi, Jane. Please call me Mac.”
I place my hand in his much larger one and offer him a weak shake.
For some reason, I can’t help but notice that his eyes are light blue. So different from his sister’s hazel ones.
“Mac?” I ask.
“It’s what my friends call me.” He smiles before he kneels in front of me and looks at my son. “What’s your name, bud?”
My son looks up at me and waits for approval before he responds. It kills me how withdrawn he’s become. Tanner was my child who used to talk to anyone without any hesitation. When he was Emily’s age, I used to say he was the type of person who had never met a stranger a day in his life.
Now, though, he’s subdued. He doesn’t shine the way he used to, and it’s my fault. I tried to shield them, I really did, but there was no stopping them from seeing everything. I should have left him sooner.
“Mom…” Tanner says, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts.
I offer him a brittle smile, silently telling him it’s okay. He stares at me for a moment before he looks back at the man in front of us.
“I’m Tanner. This is my sister, Emily,” my son tells him.
“Nice to meet you. I know you traveled a long way. Do you want to see where you’ll be living now?” Colin asks him.
