“All right, keep in touch if you hear anything new. I’m going to head out as soon as I can.” He would pack the girls a bag each and grab them at school.
“Thank you, Mitch, bring my boy home safe, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am, I’ll do my best.”
He packed four bags, three stuffies—one moose, one goofy ostrich, and one yellow teddy bear made from the blanket Bekka had come home from the hospital with—along with a great big bag of things to do and all the electronics he could grab.
Then he called Mark who picked up immediately. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
He arched an eyebrow, putting the first set of bags in front of the door. “How do you know anything’s up?”
“You never call in the middle of the day. What’s wrong?”
Mitch chuckled softly, the sound rough and without any humor at all. “Cam’s hurt real bad. He’s in the hospital. I’m going to take the girls to Vegas to go and do whatever I can because everybody in his family has got the stomach flu. I’m going to need some help. I can’t leave those girls alone in a hospital. Or in a hotel room for hours.”
He was desperate, and he needed Mark.
“All right, I’ll meet you in Vegas. I’ll tell you when my flight gets in. You’re what? Six, seven hours out?”
He nodded. “Something like that, yeah.”
“All right, no problem. I can get myself a bag together and some stuff for the girls, and then we’ll just coordinate that while you’re driving. I’ll fly out, and we’ll be good.”
He blinked—he’d called and asked for this, and he’d known Mark would do it, but it was the ease, the immediacy of the whole thing left him shocked. “I—I really appreciate this. Are you sure? We can do this?”
“Hey! That’s what friends are for. You go get the girls. Get on the road, and I can’t wait to get reacquainted with your man.”
He nodded and hung up the phone before he could burst into tears because, Jesus, how cool was it that he could just call, and Mark would say “I’m on my way” like it was nothing. Like therewas nothing else in his life that took priority. He was a lucky son of a bitch. He shook his head.
Then he called up to the elementary school, and Miss Maydel answered the phone. “Nellie Pecina Elementary. Can I help you?”
“Hey, this is Mitch Gonzales. There’s been a family emergency, and I’m going to have to pick up the girls. Could you please get the three of them ready and get whatever homework they’re going to need for the next week, please? I’ll be up there in about half an hour.”
“Is everything all right?”
“It’s going to be I hope, but I got to go. I’ll be up there in half an hour.” Give or take. “Thank you for this.”
“Yes, sir, no problem.”
He texted Wilder to ask if he could get someone to come out and feed the horses and pick Rosie up so he wasn’t lonely.
Rosie came wagging up to him as he loaded the back of the car with snacks and juice boxes, the big guy pushing at his hand, trying to get up in the SUV.
“Oh, sweet boy, I can’t take you. There’s not a hotel in Las Vegas that would let me have your big, goofy body.” He leaned down and rubbed ears and stared into Rosie’s eyes. “Don’t you worry. Someone’s going to come feed you. Wilder’s going to take you home with him for the duration, and then when I get home, I’ll bring the girls. We’ll have Christmas together, all of us. It’ll be okay.”
Leastways it’d better be fine or he was fixin’ to be grumpy. He shoved all the stuff in the truck, and then headed out.
When he got to the school, he was faced with three terrified little girls in their coats, carrying their bags and books and papers, all three of them staring.
Rachel was crying, Sarah was stony-faced, but it was Bekka who simply asked, “What’s wrong, Daddy?”
He opened his arms to them. “Cam got hurt in Las Vegas, and he’s in the hospital, and we’re going to go pick him up because he needs his family.”
Rachel’s eyes got wide. “Are you gonna leave us at home?”
He snorted. “Did I say I was going to take you home and leave you there, and then go to Vegas? No, I did not. I’m taking you. We are driving to Las Vegas. We are going to have an adventure. We’re meeting Uncle Mark when we get there, and then we are staying in a hotel. There might even be swimming—I don’t know, I’m not making any promises. I did pack your swimming suits just in case. I have all the stuff. We’re going to go to Vegas to go see Cam now.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Sarah nodded very firmly. “We’re going to go get him, and we’re going to bring him home, and he’s going to be okay.”
