“And Tia messes with Chloe, the one in purple, quite a lot?” Shay asked quietly.
“Tia messes with everyone and anyone.” Solo grinned at her eldest, who looked like an angel when she was asleep. But when she was awake, she could give any fallen angel a run for their money. “And Griff is her mighty steed.”
Shay frowned. “Griff is the dog?”
“Yep,” Solo said. “He’s with a neighbor today, but I’ve got to figure something else out. And soon.”
“It’s time,” Gabe said as she turned up the NPR broadcast.
Solo turned as she registered the victims’ names being read out, and she and Shay joined the rest of the gang in the center of the room, lined up side by side. They all assumed the parade rest position and clasped their hands behind their backs. A few minutes later, the bell tolled to indicate the first moment of silence. She could remember exactly where she was when she heard that Flight 11 had hit the North Tower, could still smellthe hot Syrian desert air that she’d never gotten used to, even after two years. It had been the hottest part of the day due to the thermal lag, which was useful for once, because her intense sweating had disguised her tears. In the minutes following, one by one, the gang had found each other and come together, reinforcing their bond in the face of the horrendous attack on their homeland.
Now she kept her eyes front, and her gaze unfocused, though she was praying that none of the triplets woke during what was left of the minute’s silence. And she fought the tears, not just for the victims but also for the state of her family. The silence gave oxygen and space to all the swirling thoughts of darkness that she’d been desperately trying to quash for the sake of the girls. Because every time she thought about how their perfect little family was now broken, the grief threatened to drown her in her own tears. And as much as part of her wanted to slide down that snake into a pit of despair, the rest of her was battling hard to stay present so she could keep the triplets safe.
Another bell sounded, and Gabe turned the radio down slightly, so that it was still loud enough to hear the reading of the names as it continued. She gestured to the monitor showing their first customers waiting outside. “Looks like our sign worked,” she said as she headed downstairs to open up.
RB and Woody followed, and RB pointed to the wall clock fashioned from giant gears. “We’ll be back in sixteen minutes.”
Shay put her hand on Solo’s shoulder. “Take some time to settle your kids in. None of us can really start any work until after ten thirty anyway.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. She couldn’t trust her voice to hold, so she just watched Shay jog down the stairs, her braids bouncing on her shoulders. Solo drew in a deep breath and walked back to the stroller. Mercifully, all three of her girls were still fast asleep, so she wheeled them into the darkness of the tent.
She decided she wouldn’t disturb them by putting them intheir new cots. There was no point waking them before they were ready. They’d all be super grumpy if she did. And after the lack of sleep they’d all had last night, it might even be possible that they’d sleep through the rest of the moments of silence and even through to lunch. Boy, they’d be hungry then, and Chloe would probably scream the place down. Solo couldn’t see the rest of the gang wanting to put up with this situation long-term, but what the hell was she supposed to do about it?
Her cell buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see her dad’s smiling face on the screen. She swallowed hard. It’d taken her two years before she’d changed the picture of her parents to just him, but the absence of her mom, both literally and on screen, hit harder than usual, and she made a note to change it back when she had a second.
“Is it okay that I’m calling, Han?” her dad asked. “I waited until after 8:46 Eastern.”
“Sure. Is something wrong?”
“I was calling to ask you that,” he said. “I didn’t get my Sunday family time last night, and you didn’t answer any of my calls. I was starting to get worried.”
“I’m…” She choked on her attempt at a casual response. Of course she wasn’t fine. Her life was falling apart, and she’d had to bring her children to a greasy, stinky garage because her wife had left her, and their nanny had quit earlier the same week to concentrate on her artwork. Solo wished she’d never encouraged the young woman to open up about her passions.
“Han? What’s wrong?”
Solo dropped onto a nearby couch. “Everything,” she said, then somehow managed to get the whole sorry story out of her mouth in between long silences, where she glared at the ceiling and pinched her neck hard to prevent her tears from falling.
“I’ll get on a flight today,” he said. “My buddies Eric and Jeff will pack the house up and send everything after me.”
Solo laughed, not because it was funny, but because it just didn’t seem possible. “Don’t be crazy, Pops. You can’t upendyour life…”Just because mine is falling apart.
“I’ve been wanting a change anyway, and this is just the motivation I needed,” he said.
She shook her head, not quite believing that her dad could be the solution to her current problems. “But you love Florida.”
“I loved yourmom, so I loved anywhereshewas.” He coughed, half disguising the slight break in his voice. “This place is making me old before my time. Everyone is three decades older than me and wants to play golf all day, every day. I want to see my grandbabies.”
Solo wavered. “I don’t know, Pops. You haven’t mentioned being unhappy before. It kind of feels like you’re saying what you think I need to hear, so I won’t feel guilty about dragging you halfway across the country to rescue me. Again.” She’d lost count of the times he’d come to her aid when she was a kid, getting into all types of trouble.
“You’ll be doing me a favor, I swear,” he said. “If I stay in this place any longer, I’ll be dead in a few years, and thatwouldbe something for you to feel guilty about.”
Solo snorted. “How’d you figure?”
“Because you’re blocking me from making a change right now. What if you say no to me moving closer to you and the girls, and I drop dead of boredom next week? How will that make you feel,” he said, sounding like he had to muffle a chuckle.
She looked across at the triplets, still fast asleep in the makeshift tent. The gang had done her proud, and there hadn’t been a whiff of irritation or judgment that they’d had to create a nursery at breakneck speed just because Solo couldn’t keep her wife happy. But really, how practical was it for her to be spraying a car and have to keep breaking off to tend to the triplets? She couldn’t just stop in the middle of a panel. “Are you sure?”
“I’m more than sure,” he said. “I’m one-hundred percent certain. Go on, get off the phone, so you’re ready for the next moment of silence. I’ll book my flight and send you the details. And don’t worry about picking me up from the airport; I’ll rent acar. You can hook me up with something more permanent when you’ve got time. See you tonight,” he said and hung up before she could say anything else.
