“Oh, perfect.”
“Thanks.” She slid her hands under the bag as Ember had done.
“Wait, there’s more.”
Ember leaned into the fridge again and brought out two more bags, this time lifting them by the handles. She set them beside the first bag and shut the fridge, then peered into one of them.
“Okay, this is also meals. I don’t know precise servings, but Lucy made you a casserole of some kind, and there’s fresh venison in the butcher paper. That’s from Malachi. I wrapped it in a layer of plastic too, so it’s not bleeding into the bag. If you don’t feel up to cooking before it needs freezing, just call me. I’ve got a great chili recipe, which I wrote down for you. It’s perfect fall eating, you know? And with venison it’s…”
Tears spilled over. Kelsey wrapped her arms around herself and tried to stop them.
“Oh.” Ember enfolded her in a hug that only made her cry harder. “Sorry. I’m a firehose sometimes. Though I guess that’s not why you’re upset.”
“I’m not,” Kelsey cried. “I mean, I am. But not about any of this, I’m… I’m really thankful. To everybody.”
Ember’s arms tightened around her. “Told you you weren’t on your own.”
Kelsey gave a teary laugh. “You did.”
Ember concluded her list of the contents of the bags: Maggie’s favorite snacks from Ezra, an extravagant amount of chocolate from Sydney and Cassius. They had also provided lasagna from the town market’s takeout counter. Clearly Sydney still loathed cooking.
“And in the envelope there are gift cards for later, when you can leave for a few hours without a problem. You’ll want to get out of the house. Now you can drive into town and bring dinner home.”
“You thought of everything,” Kelsey said.
“Highly doubtful, but we tried.”
“I need to thank them. All.” She looked out the kitchen window to where the pack chased a volleyball or sat back with cobbler and coffee. Where they talked, played, lived together.
If she’d been Trevor’s mate…
Better not to entertain the fantasy.
Ember said, “It’ll keep for next time, if it needs to.”
Next time when she was less weepy. Might be better. She nodded. Before she and Ember could take the bags to her car, the back door opened and Aaron loomed.
“Hey, I’ll help load.”
His arms supported the two heaviest bags without effort, and Ember carried the snack-filled one. With everything safely tucked into the trunk, Kelsey had nothing to do but drive away. She’d been here less time than she planned, but the overwhelming desire to cry for a few days hadn’t been planned either.
“Thanks,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time.
A green pickup truck turned into the driveway and began its climb up the slope. Kelsey’s stomach tightened. Arlo and Trevor were back. She could wait for him, say goodbye to him if to nobody else. Then again, seeing her seemed to stress him out.
He jumped out of the truck before Arlo had put it in park. He charged up to Kelsey’s car, then halted suddenly about ten feet from her.
“Everything okay?” she said.
“Yeah,” he said. “No. I mean, yeah. Could we talk?”
Ember held up one finger, then hugged Kelsey tight. “Glad to have met you. Give Maggie our best wishes.”
Aaron’s hug lifted her off the ground. “Take care. Call anytime. See you again soon.”
Ember looped her arm through her mate’s, possibly to drag him off. He glanced back at least twice. Kelsey would give a lot right now to be able to smell whatever had him so intrigued.
“Not here,” Trevor said with a frown toward the backyard and the two cookout hosts vanishing arm-in-arm around the corner.
