That finished Dustin completely.
He laughed until his ribs hurt. Until his eyes ran, though not from spice. Until he had to grip the edge of the table because he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop, didn’t want to stop.
“I’m glad,” Greg said, from somewhere above him, with immense dignity, “that my suffering is so entertaining.”
Dustin lost it again.
“Gregory,” Cathy managed, voice unsteady, “it really is a mild batch.”
“Ma’am,” Greg said, “I have attended a great many deaths, and I have never suffered the way I am suffering right now.”
Cathy laughed harder.
Quiet and helpless, the way Dustin remembered from before. From when his family had stillbeen complete, when the world had been smaller and easier and they hadn’t yet learned all the ways it could break.
His laughter softened.
He watched his mother at the kitchen table, wiping her eyes.
Watched Greg, destroyed by chili and still determined to finish the bowl because that was simply the kind of person he was.
For one impossible moment, with death circling the house and no plan in sight, they were laughing.
Dustin exhaled and rose from the table.
“I’ll get you the ice cream,” he said.
CHAPTER 32
Cathy rinsed the bowls and set them on the drying rack.
“I’ll make up the couch,” she said, reaching for a dish towel. She didn’t look at either of them. “Unless he’s staying in your room.”
“My room,” Dustin said without thinking and without shame.
Cathy dried her hands. “Alright.”
She hung the towel on the oven handle, then looked at Greg, who sat very still at the table with his hands folded on top of it.
“Goodnight, Gregory.”
“Goodnight, ma’am.”
“It’s Cathy.”
“Goodnight, Cathy,” Greg corrected quickly.
He did not point out that his name was not Gregory.
Cathy studied him for a moment, nodded once, and left the kitchen.
Dustin rose slowly.
He was tired. Not just physically, though the sling pulled at his shoulder and the road rash under his shirtthrobbed whenever he moved. He’d laughed so hard at dinner that something had cracked open in him, and now all the tension holding him together was draining out.
He’d said Greg would sleep in his room, but not because he wanted to get physical.
That was strange.
