Her mom rubbed her back and let her go. “I saved you some dinner. It’s just spaghetti, but I wanted to make something quick the kids wouldeat.”
“Did they eat already?” Deniseasked.
“Yes. I told them they could stay up a little longer and wait for you to comehome.”
“How are they doing?” She dropped her voice to barely awhisper.
Her mom glanced at them. “They seem to be doing okay. They were worried about when you were going to be home,” she said in the samewhisper.
Denise nodded and glanced at the clock above the television. They were already thirty minutes past their bedtime. She needed to make sure they kept their normal schedule. Normal was important for all of them. “Alright, monkeys, pause your show if you want to save it. It’s time forbed.”
“Can Grandma read stories with us tonight?” Kimberasked.
“I want Aunt Denny to read to us,” Kadensaid.
She could see the fight brewing. “How about if you read to Grandma while I eat dinner and then I’ll read toyou?”
They looked at each other as if having a silent conversation. “Okay,” Kadensaid.
“All right. Teeth. Bathroom. Bed. Ready? Break.” Denise clapped her hands and the kids scrambled off the bed, racing each other to thebathroom.
“We’re reading TheMagic Tree Houseseries,” she told her mom. “It’s on the table between theirbeds.”
“Sarah loved that series.” Her mom’s eyes grewteary.
Denise kissed her on the cheek. “I’m pretty sure they're the samebooks.”
Her mom wiped a tear away and took a deep breath. Pivoting toward the bedrooms, she called out, “All right, kids, let’s check thoseteeth.”
She smiled after her mom for a moment, before pulling herself back to reality. “Let’s go in thekitchen.”
Chris stayed close behind her with his hand low on her back. Her dad leaned against the counter in front of the sink with his arms crossed. She went to him and he wrapped her in his arms. It was different than her the way her mom had, but it was just ascomforting.
“I liked it better when I didn’t know the shit you were getting into,” he said,gruffly.
She huffed out a small laugh and raised her head from his chest. They’d never talked about what she’d done in Iraq or Afghanistan. He simply told her he was there if she needed to talk to someone who’d been there, too. She loved her dad, had been a daddy’s girl growing up, but there were some things she hadn’t been able to share withhim.
“How’d they find you?” he asked when she pulledback.
“I wondered the same thing,” she said. “There was no way they should have known where we were going to be and I never spotted anyone following us. The trip to the new school was a spur of the moment decision and it’s not like I’m on a bowling league.” She pulled the disabled GPS from her jeans pocket and held it out in her palm. “Found this in one of the wheelwells.”
Her dad took it from her and turned it over in his hands, examining it then passed it toChris.
She didn’t know what to make of her dad including Chris in the discussion. Because he was FBI or for otherreasons?
“How long do you think it’s been there?” her dadasked.
“No idea. It didn’t even occur to me to sweep mycar.”
“It looks off-the-shelf. Battery probably wouldn’t last more than ten days—maybe a couple more if it wasn’t on all the time,” Chrissaid.
“There was a yellow light lit when I foundit.”
“Probably indicates the amount of charge.” He tossed the device on the counter. “I think you should reconsider the safehouse.”
“I can’t cut myself off from parents or Bree, which I’d have to do going into a safehouse.”
“Cabin?” her dadasked.
