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“Ja—” I start to chase after him, but again Wes grabs me, locking me into place while Jared storms out of the kitchen.
The front door slams, and the distinct rumble of his truck engine roaring to life causes my breath to catch. I’m so stunned by the entire situation that my brain isn’t functioning properly to alert me right away that Jared shouldn’t be alone right now, no matter how angry he is and how much he wants to be on his own. He needs someone with him, and it hurts a bit that he won’t let me be there for him.
I take a deep breath and decide that I’m not going to let him push me out right now.
I turn to chase after him, but Wes halts me in my tracks. “Don’t, London. He needs time to process this on his own. He’s too worked up right now to listen to reason. I don’t want him to fly off the handle and hurt you.”
My brow furrows. “He would never—”
“Not intentionally, no, but Jared isn’t himself right now. You saw that. Give him space. Let him calm down,” Wes says.
Julie begins crying again as the three of us remain in the kitchen tog
ether. Her soft cries fill the room, and my heart instantly begins to crumble as the realization of the situation hits me hard. While I loved Henry, I know that the love I had for him doesn’t compare to the love Jared had for his father. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to face in my life was the death of my own mother. Life for Jared without his dad will never be the same. The same goes for Wes and Julie too.
I pull out the chair next to Julie and sit next to her, taking her hand in my own while Wes sits on the opposite side of her, mimicking my actions with her other hand.
I lick my dry lips as I choose my next words carefully. “Do you know exactly what happened to Henry?”
Wes worries his bottom lip, and I can tell he’s waiting with bated breath for that answer.
I release Julie’s hand and grab a napkin from the little porcelain holder sitting in the middle of the table. I hold it out to her, and she takes it and wipes her nose. “They say he was guarding a convoy when it was attacked by members of the Taliban. There were three Kuwaiti citizens and two other military policemen who were also killed. It was a routine route to transport food and water to the starving civilians who were thrown into the middle of this war. Henry jumped out of the deuce and a half to assist a wounded child and was shot through the neck.”
Wes draws in a sharp breath and bites his bottom lip in an attempt to stop it from trembling, and my heart is obliterated into a million pieces.
A lump fills my throat, and my eyes burn as I picture what Henry’s last few seconds on this earth must have been like. A weight sits on my chest and I gasp. It’s like all the air has been sucked from the room, making it nearly impossible to breathe.
Julie takes a deep breath and then sniffs. “There was nothing they could do to save him. He died right there on the scene. I just wish I could’ve had the chance to tell him good-bye—to tell him how much I loved him.”
I squeeze her hand. “I’m sure he never questioned that. The love you shared with him—it was so evident—so I know without a doubt you, Jared, and Wes were the last ones on his mind. He loved you all so much.”
Tears continue to pour from Julie’s eyes as her gaze meets mine. “Thank you, London. And I know you meant the world to him too. He always spoke about you as if you were already a part of the family. It was never a question of if you would marry our son, but when. We all love you very much.”
Those sweet words only make me cry harder, and my thoughts shift to Jared. If I’m breaking this much inside, I can only imagine the pain he’s going through. I wish he would allow me to be by his side to comfort him, but grief is a strange thing. Some people like me need people around them, while others like Jared need space to process what’s happened.
As if Julie has read my mind, she says, “Go to him, London. He needs you right now even if he doesn’t know it.”
I nod and wipe my face. “Okay.”
I lean in and wrap my arms around her. “I’m so sorry about Henry. I loved him like a dad.”
When I pull back, she cups my face. “I know that, sweet girl, and he loved you like a daughter.”
I glance over at Wes, who now has nearly the same exact vacant expression that Julie wore when we first found her sitting at this kitchen table. He’s always been the more reserved brother—the one who seems to keep everything together, much like their mother—while Jared tends to be more adventurous like their father.
I push myself up from the table and then walk around to the side Wes is sitting on. I bend down and hug him, and he instantly wraps his arms around me. He buries his face in my hair and inhales deeply. “Thank you for being here.”
His kind words make me feel like I belong here with this family and I’m not some intruder on this very private, heart-wrenching affair.
I rub his back while he clings to me. “I’ll always be here if you guys need me.”
I pull back, and Wes releases me and looks to his mother, and then back to me. “I would take you to look for Jared, but I think it’s best if I stay here with Mom. I don’t want to be the thing he directs his anger on, because he’s obviously pissed at me right now. Promise me that you’ll be careful and call me if you need me.”
I nod. “I promise. I’ll walk to my house and use Dad’s car to drive around a bit. I know of a few places that he may have taken off to. I’ll start by checking those places first.”
“I mean it, London. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be here for you,” he says, and then his eyes soften. “Always.”
The tender expression accompanied with his sweet plea for me to lean on him in this situation is very touching, and it means so much to me.
