“I was researching pools to install at my house for you and Nora, yes. Because I want my house to be yours too, eventually. Because one day I’m going to marry your brother. Now I just might need to move the timeline up. For getting you all moved in, I mean.”
Salem doesn’t speak. He’s quiet for so long that I’m sure I’ve fucked up somehow.
“I understand being upset about shitty-ass grown-ups letting you down. I have no intention of doing that. It might happen, though, because I’m only human, and everyone makes mistakes. But I want Arlo. And I want you. And I want Nora. And I know you don’t know me, and you have no reason to trust that, but I’ll prove it to you. One day.”
“My last foster dad told me I was a brat and hard to deal with.”
I chuckle. “Are you trying to warn me off?”
“Maybe.”
“Wanna know a secret?” I ask.
“Sure.”
“I’m a firefighter. I like… walk into burning buildings. On purpose. A bratty teenager isn’t gonna scare me off.”
Salem laughs at that. “We’ll see, I guess. What are you gonna do?”
“I’m gonna call Maryanne and figure out what I evencando. But I promise, as soon as I know more, I’ll call you, okay?”
“Okay,” Salem whispers. “When Arlo wakes up, will you tell him I love him?”
My heart squeezes to the point of pain. “Of course. I know he’ll want to call you as soon as he can, though. Just hang in there, okay? I’m gonna figure something out. You three have been away from each other long enough.”
Chapter 14
Arlo
Something’sbeeping.
I peel my eyes open slowly, only to squeeze them shut. It’s bright. Someone needs to turn the lights off.
“Shu—” My voice cuts off into nothing. Not that it was much to begin with. Raspy and dry and all wrong. Fuck, I’m thirsty.
“Shh, baby boy. Don’t try to talk.”
My eyebrows draw together, my mouth opening but no words coming out. Something touches my lips. “Close your lips, baby boy, then suck.”
Cool, refreshing water rushes over my tongue, soothing my raw throat. At least a little bit. It still hurts pretty damn badly. I suck again, swallowing another mouthful of water.
“Easy, not so much.”
The straw disappears, and I try again to open my eyes. I manage to get them open enough to see Jasper. Where am I?
He must see the question in my eyes because he cups my face in a shaky hand, and when he blinks, tears fall from his eyes to his cheeks. “Don’t try to talk, okay?” Reaching down to grab my hand, he places my fingers against his palm. “Tap once for yes and twice for no.”
I tap once to show him I understand.
“Do you remember anything from before you were leaving to get the kids? Do you remember the fire?”
Fire? What fucking fire? I tap his palm twice.
Jasper frowns. “Yesterday…” He pauses, swallowing hard. “A couple of hours before you were supposed to leave for Tennessee, your house caught on fire. You passed out in the hallway. By the time we got there, your heart had stopped.”
The heart in question speeds up, the beeping I heard earlier getting faster and faster.
“Hey,” Jasper whispers, brushing his thumb along my jaw. “It’s okay, baby boy. You’re alright. Breathe.”
