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“Laugh,” Sean replied solemnly, and then he did the most adorable thing ever. He reached up and pulled at Johnny’s cheeks to make him smile. “See?”
Now, I did laugh. “Oh my god, you are just the cutest!”
“Do me a favor, will ya, big man?” Setting Sean back down, Johnny ruffled his curls before saying, “Run inside and ask Dellie if Johnny’s dinner is ready.”
With his little chest puffed out, Sean nodded eagerly before bolting off in the direction of the back door.
“I’m so sorry,” I blurted out when he was out of earshot.
“You’re only human,” Johnny replied, watching the preschooler like a hawk until he disappeared inside the manor. “It’s a lot to take in.”
“It just so heart-wrenching” I admitted, following him into the garage, feeling ridiculously emotional. “How do you handle it?”
“With these,” he explained, pointing to the weights and gym equipment behind him. “It gets easier.”
“Usually, I’m okay,” I said. “But seeing Aoife and AJ, and then knowing everything they had to go through…” My voice cracked and I had to press my tissue to my nose to stop it from dripping. “And then Ollie was asking her if Joey was better, and Aoife could only tell him that he was better today…” Choking out another sob, I batted my tears away. “And then it hit me that Joe’s never going to be fully better, is he? Because there’s no cure for his disease!” Sniffling, I added, “He’ll always be an addict, with no promise of anything beyond today.”
“Yeah, Claire, he will.”
“But that’s so sad!” I choked out, unable to stop the wail that escaped me. “He’s trying so hard, with school and work and the baby! And they’ve been through so much! And Aoife’s so brave! And they still don’t get any guarantees for the future!”
Sighing heavily, Johnny sank down on his weight bench and patted the bench beside him. “Come on.”
Wailing like a banshee, I slumped down beside him and dropped my head in my hands. “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“I don’t know, Claire,” he replied, patting my shoulder. “I really don’t.”
“It’s just so shitty!”
“Yeah, it is,” he agreed, offering me a bottle of water. “But the fact that Shan and the boys are here today, still standing, still breathing? It’s a miracle in itself. As for Joey? He’s a force to be reckoned with. I’ve never seen a more resilient human in my life. Yeah, he’ll always be an addict, but he’s got a family in there worth staying sober for. A girl and a baby that not only would he fight to the death for, but that he also wants to live for. So, fuck guarantees and don’t bet against him. He’ll forge an epic future for Aoife and AJ, just like he forged a future for his siblings.”
18
Rhett Butler
GIBSIE
“You know, when you asked me for an old pallet from the farm, I should have known it was for one of your hairbrained schemes,” Feely declared. We were in my back garden after school, surrounded by power tools, saws, and pieces of chopped timber. “This is strange, Gibs. Even for you.”
“No, it’s not strange,” I argued, balancing a nail between my teeth, while I hammered another one into the wooden house I’d spent most of the evening crafting. “It’s the height of levelheadedness.”
“Care to explain the method to this particular brand of madness?”
“It’s getting cold. Reggie is going to need someplace warm to hibernate.”
“You know, if you freed the poor creature, he’d do it for himself.”
“Not according to our vet, he won’t. He’s been handled too much. Reggie doesn’t know that he’s a hedgehog. He was only a baby when we rescued him. He won’t survive a winter in the wild.”
“You know wild hedgehogs carry diseases, don’t you?” Feely pointed out, leaning against the closed patio door. “You really shouldn’t keep him on your lap like that, lad.”
“For the last time, Reginald isn’t diseased!” I snapped. “He’s as clean as a whistle. Same as me.”
“Same as you?” he laughed. “Is that supposed to reassure me?”
“Don’t mind him, son,” I grumbled, returning my attention to the task at hand, while my little buddy burrowed into the fabric of my gray sweatpants. “Daddy’s going to build you a better hibernaculum than any of the other hedgehogs.”
“At least use gloves when you’re handling him.”
