“Hey, did they settle okay?” he asked, taking one of Josiah’s bags.
“Yeah, they’re shaken and they have a lot of processing to do, but otherwise they’re fine. We should probably get them some new stuff though, like electronics and things, in case their insurance won’t cover it.”
“Absolutely. Okay, let’s take this stuff to the guest room. I started you a bath in the master, and if you’ll give me your clothes I’ll put them in the washer. Oh, and I’ll have food ready when you’ve taken a bath.”
He put the bag on the chair by the guest room dresser and turned to Josiah.
Josiah who was standing there, tears in his eyes, looking completely numb and overwhelmed with feelings at the same time.
“Oh, honey,” Denny breathed and stepped closer, ready to embrace Josiah.
“N-no, my clothes smell like smoke—”
“Like I’d care about that, come here.” He pulled Josiah close and they clung to each other for a moment. “Okay, enough. Your bath will cool too much. Get into the tub and leave your clothes on the counter, let me know when I can pick them up?”
“Uh yeah,” Josiah said, wiping his eyes. “It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked though.”
“I think we should… avoid that,” Denny replied, feeling awkward. “For right now, I mean. It’s….” He gestured at his own head weakly.
“Oh… oh, okay. That’s okay. I’ll just….” Jo grabbed his toiletry kit from his bag and led the way to the master bathroom.
Denny stayed in the bedroom, sitting on the edge of his bed as he waited. He ran fingers through his hair, tugging at the strands. A naked Josiah in his bathroom. How had he not understood this earlier? How had he been so blind?
He heard a splashing from the bathroom, and then Josiah’s voice. “Okay!”
Denny took in a deep breath and pushed himself off the bed. He went in and grabbed the pile of clothes off the counter. “No phones in the pocket?” he asked, smirking a little.
“Oh shut up, it was one time when small phones were new!” Josiah tried to look annoyed but didn’t quite manage.
“If you say so….” Denny ducked away from the bathroom before Jo could throw anything at him.
He took Jo’s clothes to the utility room and stuffed them into the washer, too. He made a mental note to toss the clean laundry into the dryer in the morning.
The food was easy to make, and even though his brain was starting to stutter a little bit, he still managed. Making coffee was tempting, but he didn’t need a caffeine hit right then.
He grabbed his laptop from the living room and sat at the breakfast table as he kept an eye on the oven and the air fryer at the same time. Yeah, if he managed to make that work at this hour and while this tired and shaken, well, he’d call it a big win.
Suddenly his phone chirped. He grabbed it and saw Sammie’s name on the screen.
“What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.
“What I want to know is what’s wrong there, Denny,” she said in a dangerous tone.
“Wait… what—”
“I got a message from Yolanda, saying that they were really tired, but not to worry when I got the news. So, would you kindly inform me what news she was talking about?”
He swallowed hard. “Why didn’t you call Jo first?”
“I did, but I think he has no battery left. Start talking.”
Josiah chose that moment to walk down the stairs, took one look at his expression and mouthed “Sammie?” He nodded.
“Put her on speaker.” Jo came to sit on the other side of the table.
“Hold on Sammie, I’ll put you on speaker.”
He swiped the screen just in time to hear “Wait, who’s there?”
