Noah dropped his jaw and stuck his tongue out at her. “Youshoulddo it. You’re both girls.”
“We’re women, you dumbass.”
“Enough, both of you. The last thing your mom needs right now is bickering,” Mike said. Turning back to her, he gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Will you be okay until I get back?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m just glad to be home.” She reached out and touched the sleeve of his jacket. “You be safe.”
“I will. Love you,” he told her before yanking the door open and setting off.
He was clearly shaken by what had happened today, even though he was doing his best not to show it. On any other day, he never would have said he loved her in front of the kids, and Jess couldn’t help but wonder if maybe hearing him say that would rattle their children more than hearing about the collision itself. Whether it had or it hadn’t, she doubted she’d ever know.
As soon as Mike was gone, Noah disappeared to his room. Winnie patted her leg. “Come on, Baxter, I’ll get you some supper.”
The little dog’s ears perked up and he followed her to the kitchen. Jessica slid off her boots and shrugged off her coat, hanging it on her designated hook even though her shoulders complained bitterly at the action. Instead of going straight upstairs, she made her way to the kitchen, remembering that Winnie would likely forget to refill Baxter’s water dish. But when she got there, she saw her daughter holding it under the tap. She smiled at her. “Thanks. I was just about to remind you to do that.”
Winnie shut off the tap. “That’s so irritating.”
“What is?”
“That you don’t think I know he needs water,” she said, walking the bowl back over to his food mat. “I’m a straight A student and I’m almost an adult. I can look after a dog.”
“I know, I just forget sometimes. I wasn’t trying to insult you.” Jessica’s stomach growled and it suddenly occurred to her that she hadn’t had a bite of food since the mushroom soup, which was well over eight hours ago. She made her way to the pantry and got out a box of Mini-Wheats, then opened the drawer where they kept the bowls and took one out.
Instead of settling herself on the couch, Winnie took the bowl from her, filled it, and brought it over to the table. “Do you want a tea?”
“I’d love one, thank you,” Jessica said, a swell of emotion coming over her. Her daughter mightnotbe one of the most selfish people on the planet after all. It just took her mother nearly getting killed for her to show it.
Clearing her throat so as to hide any sign of having actual feelings, Jess made her way to the table slowly, mulling over how strange it was that she felt scared to show her emotions to her own children. If she did, she knew she’d be mocked mercilessly. Either that, or her daughter would disappear, and she didn’t want to be alone right now. Being alone would remind her of being trapped in the car earlier. She had never felt so isolated in her life. Sitting there, bracing herself for another vehicle to slam the truck into her vehicle again. Listening to the sound of the sirens and wondering how long it would take before they found her. No, she needed to be around her child right now.
The first bite of cereal got stuck at the lump in her throat, but she forced it down, knowing that getting some food into her would help stave off the tears that were threatening to spill out. She was fine. She’d be back to one-hundred percent soon enough. This was the worst of it. The day of. In a few weeks, her body would be healed, a few months after that, the entire incident would be forgotten. Jess would be driving a different car, but other than that, life would be exactly the same.
Winnie brought over two mugs and sat down kitty-corner to her. Jess could feel her staring and looked up at her with an easy smile to try to reassure her that she was fine. “Thank you. This is just what I need.”
Winnie stirred her drink, which Jess could see was hot chocolate. Normally, she’d tell her having chocolate this late would disrupt her sleep, but tonight, she decided to keep her mouth shut. After a sip, Winnie said, “You must be in a lot of pain.”
“It’s there, why?”
“Because you didn’t nag me about having chocolate at this hour,” Winnie said wryly.
“You’re going to want me to get in car accidents more often,” Jessica returned.
Winnie stared into her mug. “No, I won’t.” Her voice broke and she sniffed.
Jessica’s eyes filled with the tears she’d been holding back and she reached for her daughter’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Winnie squeezed back and wiped her tears away with her other hand. “Don’t do that again, okay? That was too scary.”
“I promise I’ll try not to,” Jess told her. “I got rear-ended, which isn’t something you can easily avoid.”
“Dad says you can.”
A ball of anger instantly filled Jessica’s chest. “Really? Did he say that today?”
“Yup, after he got off the phone with you, but I don’t get it. How can you be responsible for what someone behind you does?”
Jess blew out a long sigh. “If you see them coming, you can maybe get out of the way, but only if there’s somewhere to go. I actually had my signal light on for a long time, trying to get over, but he was so close behind me, I don’t think anyone in the lane next to me could see it.” After a sip of the hot tea, she added, “Or they just didn’t care.”
“That’s probably it,” Winnie said. “People suck.”
“Sometimes,” Jess agreed. “But most people are good.”
