Denny nodded. “Anything in our power, right guys?”
Josiah and Nelson were standing there, bookending the twins, and they both nodded.
Yolanda and Drea looked at them all, then at each other again, and seemed to come to a conclusion.
“We would feel safe at the Hare,” Yolanda said. “But that’s your home.” She glanced at Josiah, feeling obviously uncomfortable.
“Hey, none of that,” Josiah said and went to hug her. “Of course. There’s a washer and a dryer there, you can figure out what you can salvage and what needs to be taken to the dry cleaner. The bigger stuff, well, that can stay in the crappiest of the cars we have between us, right?” He looked at Nelson, the owner of the worst vehicle of the four.
“Oh, absolutely. Plus mine is the biggest anyway.”
“I’ll close the Hare for a couple of days, until we—”
Drea interrupted him. “Josiah, no—"
Josiah lifted a hand. “It’s my decision. My family is hurting. This is a certified family emergency, Drea. We can reopen on Saturday, all right? Get Elena and the others in where needed.”
“And Jo will come stay with me. We’ll take his laptop so he can continue his bookkeeping or something. It’ll be fine.” Denny said, hoping to sound reassuring.
“Yeah, I can go to Denny’s. Once we open, you can still stay until you figure out what you’re going to do next, okay? I can commute, it just means that you guys work a bit earlier and more hours than normal, which I’ll obviously pay you for.”
“I can come in earlier too, if needed, pay or no pay,” Nelson added.
“Pay, obviously. We’re doing well and we take care of family,” Josiah said immediately.
“Okay, okay….” Drea glanced at the house that had been cordoned off with some warning tape and shivered. “C-can we go now?”
“Of course. You two shouldn’t drive, so how about you pick a car and we’ll all go back to the Hare. Once Jo has packed a bag, we’ll leave you there and on Saturday morning, I’ll bring him here to get the car and bring it to you?”
“Or we can fetch it tomorrow if you want?” Nelson asked gently.
“I think tomorrow’s good. That works.”
“You can go home if you want to,” Josiah told Denny. “No reason for you to drive back to the Hare unless you really want to? I could meet you at your place as soon as I can?”
Denny nodded. “Okay. That works. Drive safe, all of you, and if you two need anything, let me know. Anything at all. You know I have the means to help out,” he told the twins.
“Yeah, we know. Thank you.” Yolanda hugged him tightly, and Drea came close and wrapped herself around him too.
Denny waited for Nelson to hop into his vehicle and the twins get into Josiah’s car, and only started his when they were driving off.
He drove back home, taking stock of the situation. At least the twins hadn’t been hurt. They were bound to have some mental trauma though. Denny wasn’t too keen on possessions, but he knew that losing certain items he owned would devastate him, let alone the fact that having his home unlivable and destroyed would mean losing the place he felt the most comfortable. Well, most comfortable outside of the cabin, maybe.
The twins had had some traumatic events in their life, and Denny knew that trusting men didn’t come easy for them. The fact that they wanted to put their trust and safety in Josiah, Denny, and Nelson’s hands was humbling as fuck.
Once he had parked his SUV, leaving space for Josiah’s car, he went inside and started to figure out something to feed Josiah once he got back. Knowing his friend, Denny took out his cell phone and texted Jo.
Tell me when you’re ten minutes out.
He got a thumbs up emoji as a response, which made him smile.
He made sure he had frozen fries and could toss those into the air fryer. There were bound to be some chicken nuggets he could put in the oven, too. Comfort food. Yeah, he could do that.
Once he had prepped the food—as much as there was prepping to do—he went upstairs and took a shower to get the smell of smoke out of his hair and off his skin. He put his clothes in the washing machine and made sure there was room for Josiah’s clothes, too.
When Jo sent the text he’d been waiting for, Denny went upstairs into the master bedroom to start the big bathtub. It had some jets and enough room for a couple of people, and he knew Josiah liked to relax in a bath when stressed.
He heard the front door just as he was coming down the stairs.
