“Yeah. I suppose it is.” He swallowed hard and cleared histhroat.
She heard the catch in his voice. She and her dad may not cry as much as Sarah and her mom, but that didn’t mean they didn’t feel it just asmuch.
Denise felt a tap on her hip and looked over, then down. “Hey, buddy. What’sup?”
“I want to lay down,” Kadensaid.
“Okay.” Poor guy had to beexhausted.
“Will you lay with me?” He’d asked for her to lie with him while he fell asleep every night since she’d told them their mom had died. If he didn’t climb into bed with her, he was in bed with Kimber when she went to wake them in themorning.
“Sure, buddy.” She took his hand. “I’ll come back out as soon as he’s asleep,” she said to herdad.
“Don’t worry about it. You look like you’re handling this crowd about as well as I am. I’m going to tell people they should leave before the stormbreaks.”
Her mom lifted her head from her dad’s chest, her eyes red and puffy. “Jesus, Frank. You can’t kick peopleout.”
He glared down at her. “I’m going to kindly suggest they leave for safety reasons. Me kicking them out would be to tell them to get the fuck out of my daughter’shouse.”
“Alrighty, then. I’m going to take little ears to lie down. Let Kimber know where we are in case she wants to cuddle withus.”
She took Kaden’s hand and weaved through the clusters of people, giving a tight smile to everyone who said they were sorry for her loss along the way. They were probably sincere. Maybe some of them had suffered their own loss at some point, but she couldn’t deal with any more people today. She was peopledout.
Thankfully, Kaden gave her the perfect excuse not to stop and exchange pleasantries. Against her will, she cast a look over her shoulder to where she’d last seen Chris. She’d been aware of him all afternoon. He’d mumbled the standard prayers along with everyone else, but she’d known he watched her the entire time. Just like he watched her ushering Kaden through the crowd. The crease between his brows was prominent as he followed her with hisgaze.
Once Sprocket cleared the threshold to the bedroom, she shut the door with a relievedsigh.
“Will you snuggle me?” Kaden asked, climbing onto thebed.
“Sure.” She pushed away from the door and kicked off her flats. “Let’s take your shoes offthough.”
He yanked off his shoes and dropped them to the floor. She pulled her phone from the pocket of Sprocket’s vest and set it on the bedside table, then unhooked the vest from around Sprocket’s chest andneck.
“Why did Sprocket have to wear her vesttoday?”
“Because there were so many people here who don’t know her, I wanted to make sure they knew she was working and they shouldn’t pet her or try to play withher.”
“Oh.” He sat on the bed, legs crossed, picking at his fingernails while he waited forher.
She lay down in the middle of the bed. “Hang on. My skirt’s tangled.” She lifted her hips and adjusted the material so it wasn’t pulling at her hips. “Okay.”
Kaden all but launched himself at her, tucking his head into the pocket of her shoulder, throwing an arm across her chest. She rubbed his back as best she could with the limited reach shehad.
The door clicked open and Kimber entered, closing it behindher.
Denise opened her free arm and Kimber joined them on the bed, mirroring Kaden’s position, resting her arm on top ofKaden’s.
A few minutes passed, then her whole body rocked from the force of the sob wrenched out of Kimber. More followed and Kaden began crying aswell.
Her throat tightened up and her eyes stung for what seemed like the ten-thousandth time that day. She shoved down the pain, staying strong for Kaden and Kimber. She squeezed them tight and kissed the tops of their heads. “I know, sweetie. Iknow.”
Chapter 8
Denise staredup at the ceiling, letting the freight train of emotion and thoughts ramble through her mind. She tried not to stop on any particular one to examine it more closely because as soon as she did, she’d be overwhelmed by what the future held in store for her. Ignoring was bliss and she’d reign as the Queen of Denial for another few hours before she had to face reality. Except one thought kept pushing to thefront.
Chris.
What was she supposed to do about him? He was going to be in their lives, for the near term at least, because of Eddie. Long term, he was Jase’s best friend so they’d always run into each other. She was grown-up enough to admit her feelings were hurt. Regardless of what he said, she had been an afterthought. He’d put his job first. Maybe she expected too much. Maybe she wanted too much. She was almost childish enough to want to stamp her foot and yellI don’t care. For once in her adult life, she wanted to befirst.
