“Hi,” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat. “I was out of town for a while, but um, I’m wondering if Kimberly has any urgent appointments this week? I—I kinda need one.”
“Let me take a look,” she mumbles. She asks for my date of birth and a minute later, she’s offering me an appointment this afternoon.
“I’ll take it,” I say without question. I need the appointment desperately.
“Great. We will see you at three,” Laura says, saying goodbye and ending the call after I thank her.
A weight lifts off my shoulders as soon as that is taken care of, and I finish getting ready to head to the diner to see my family.
46
THOMAS
“It’s so good to see you, man,” Andrew says as he hugs me, slapping me on my back. I sink into the familiarity of his embrace. I’ve always been close to all my brothers, but each of us have a different kind of bond. Even if I weren’t here to see his brand new baby, I might have gone to him first after getting home. He can give great advice and I need that now.
Little baby Cooper is nestled in his mother’s arms. Josie is sitting on the couch, and despite only giving birth a few days ago, she looks great. I can see the exhaustion in her features, but overall, she looks happy.
“Hey, Mom,” I greet, leaning down to give my sister-in-law an awkwardly angled hug, trying not to squish my new nephew in the process.
Josie chuckles. “Hey. Where’s Hannah?”
“She couldn’t make it,” I say regretfully, ignoring the pang of hurt in my chest. I wish she were here. “She’s out with her family.”
“Ah,” Josie says. “Want to hold him?”
“Yes,” I respond promptly, holding out my arms. I leandown and she transfers the small bundle into my hands. I cradle him close, looking over his adorable features. He’s the perfect mix of Josie and Andrew. I can see pieces of both of them in him. He’s wearing a little hat, so of course, I can’t see the color of his hair.
“Does he have your hair?” I ask Josie. Her red hair is pulled up into a messy bun, but in a way, I hope he has her hair.
“Take a look,” Andrew says, reaching over and pulling off the small hat.
Wisps of red hair cover Cooper's head, and I smile. “I knew it.”
Andrew laughs. “I wanted him to have red hair like his momma’s so bad.”
“It’s amazing,” I say, running my fingers over the soft fuzz of hair. “He’s so cute you guys. Good job.”
I sit down on the couch next to Josie, taking in the newest member of our family.
“Can we ask more about what happened, now?” Andrew asks, sitting down in the recliner beside us.
I sigh. “I can’t really tell you much still, since it’s an active investigation. But since we are back, I can tell you where we were.”
Josie and Andrew nod, listening intently.
“We were in southern Missouri. They had us staying with an older couple, the Graffs, Ron and Dottie. They had a little cottage on their property that was tucked away, which is where Hannah and I stayed.” I continue to tell them all about our time there, and how close Hannah and I got. I don’t tell them that I was her first kiss, first everything, that would be betraying her trust. But I do tell them about my feelings for her.
“She’s incredible. Once she opens up out of her shelland shows you all the sides of herself, it’s impossible not to love her.”
“We never doubted that,” Josie says, reaching out to place her hand on my arm.
“I know,” I say with a shrug. “But I think she’s pulling away. I think she’s scared of her feelings for me, and I get it. It’s hard when we’ve been in a separate world, away from reality for so long. I need to find a way to show her that I’m not letting her go, that she can trust me to take care of her.”
“Do you have any ideas?” Andrew asks.
I shake my head. “Not yet. She wouldn’t even let me stay with her last night. I slept like shit. Arson wouldn’t stop pacing because he couldn’t figure out where she was, and my bed was too cold without her.”
“Oh, so you’re likein lovein love,” Andrew says with a knowing smile.
