Jax walks in from the garage. He’s still in practice clothes. “Hey. How was work?”
“Good. I have news.”
They all look at me.
“My mom’s getting out. Her conviction was overturned. She’ll be released in two days.”
Zinnia’s face lights up. “Mom’s coming home?”
“Yeah, Zinni. Mom’s coming home.”
She screams, jumping up and down. Zephyr picks her up and spins her.
Jax walks over and pulls me into a hug. “That’s really good news.”
“I know. I can’t believe it’s real.”
Callum walks in behind him. “What’d I miss?”
“Tiger’s mom is getting out,” Zephyr says.
“Holy shit. That’s awesome.”
“Language,” I say automatically.
“Sorry. That’s freaking amazing.”
We stand in the kitchen. All five of us. And I feel it again. That fullness. That rightness.
“She’ll need somewhere to stay,” I say. “Just temporarily. Until she gets on her feet.”
“She can stay here,” Jax says immediately.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Yeah, if that’s alright with you.”
“It might be weird for all of us.”
“We’ll manage.”
That night, I call the prison and arrange the pickup. Two days from now. Eleven AM.
I barely sleep.
The morning we’re supposed to pick her up, I change clothes three times. I don’t feel good in any of my clothes, and I’m fucking freaking out.
“You look fine,” Jax says, leaning against the doorframe.
“I look terrible in everything.”
“You look beautiful.”
“I’m not trying to look beautiful… I just…”
He walks over and takes my face in his hands. “She’s going to be so proud of you. You know that, right?”
“I don’t know anything right now. I put her there.”
