Emil clapped his hands. “Okay, I think it’s time for me to go chop some stuff.” They’d been down at the shore for a while.
“Right, I’m going to go fire up the grill. Forty-five minutes?” Makai asked the sheriff, who nodded.
“I think we can pull that off.”
“Excellent!”
Makai grabbed Lotte’s cooler, and he and Emil walked after Gray, the fireman who was on his way to the dumpster.
“This is a really nice place, Makai,” Gray said over his shoulder.
“I think so too. Need to paint the house and the indoors need some work, but it’s okay. I have time.”
“Do you need help with the painting?”
“Nah, not really.”
“I already volunteered. I think we can do it with just the two of us,” Emil piped up. He seemed a little wary of Gray, who was a virtual stranger. Makai understood but got only good vibes from Gray, so he wasn’t going to worry.
“Just let me know if I can help.” Gray pushed the wheelbarrow up the hill, and when they got to the middle of the yard, he glanced at Emil and Makai. “You two together?”
Makai saw Emil flush red and look away. He decided to answer as truthfully as possible. “We’re working on it.”
LOTTE ANDJoy left before the eating started because they had a standing appointment for Saturday meals with Lotte’s ex’s parents, who were apparently much better behaved about their grandchild’s gender than Joy’s father was. Nobody mentioned Mark’s behavior to them, and Makai thought it for the best.
It turned out that Evy wasn’t able to make it after all, and after talking about Emil’s call with her, Makai couldn’t help but to feel relief. He was barely ready to meet Emil’s mom: his therapist, nice as she sounded, was a bit… different.
Nora Newman arrived in a cinnamon-scented whirl of efficiency, and Emil, who was chopping cucumbers, chuckled at Makai’s expression.
“So, cake!” Nora said after introducing herself to Makai. “I have some lemon bars in the car, if one of you would get them for me?”
The cake was massive, and she’d barely been able to carry it in. Makai suspected she’d still taken the cake instead of the lemon bars because she didn’t trust anyone else to carry it.
Emil dumped the last of the cucumbers into a bowl and said, “I’ll get them!” He grinned at Makai when Nora wasn’t looking.
Once Emil was gone, Nora whirled around from where she was setting the cake on the counter and looked at Makai. “I’m pretty sure that you have something to do with the fact that my son has had screaming nightmares three nights in a row.”
Makai blinked at her, feeling a bit panicky all of a sudden. He’d known about the first night, but the others…. “I’ve had nightmares, too, ever since we talked about stuff, but I didn’t know he had them on more than one night,” he said quietly, feeling cowed. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Emil, and something in his expression seemed to thaw the cautious iciness in Nora, because she stepped forward and put a hand on his arm.
“Are you okay? I know you don’t have family here, and I gather that you’ve been through some horrible things yourself.” And there it was, the caring that Makai had seen in her husband too. It couldn’t have been more obvious where Emil got his personality.
“Uh, I’m… okay. Ish.” He admitted the last bit hesitantly.
“If there’s anything you need, okay? You’ve changed Emil for the better already, and it’s been such a short time. I know my husband… well, he can’t help it. I think all cops are wired that way. He’s trying, though. He can tell Emil is feeling better, outside the nightmares.”
“I wish I’d known it would get this bad for us. I would’ve postponed the conversation somehow, no matter how much we wanted to have it.”
“Hindsight and all that.” Nora waved her hand. “Look, the Newman men, they’re… they’re complex creatures. I think—”
Her words were cut off by Emil opening the door and closing it with his foot. The container of lemon bars was massive.
“Can I get a hand here?” Emil groaned theatrically, and Nora went to help him out.
Makai went outside with the huge platter of meat to start grilling, and the Newmans sorted out the large foldout tables someone had brought over.
It felt almost weird how easy everything seemed with these people. Even the ones he’d never met before were easygoing and nice. With Mark gone, everyone chatted, and with Emil by his side and nobody looking at them askance, Makai felt like he was among friends, even the beginnings of a chosen family.
The boat shed was gone, and once someone came to get the dumpster after everyone had left and the road was clear for the bigger vehicle needed for the job, Makai felt drained.
