Page 138 of Anything But Lonely

“Oh.”

He looks down at his cast for a moment.

“So the doctors couldn’t fix Ems’ mom?”

I shake my head. “No, buddy. They couldn’t.”

He sniffles, wiping at his eyes with his hand. “So where is she?”

I pause, not sure I understand his question. “What do you mean?”

“Where do people go when the doctors can’t fix them?”

It takes me a minute to find the right answer, searching for an answer a four-year-old can understand. “Well, different people believe different things. Some people think they go to a place called Heaven. Some people think they're somewhere peaceful. Nobody knows for sure. But no matter where they are, there are still places we can go to feel close to them. Special places.”

Crew thinks about that for a long time.

“Is that where we’re going today? The special place?”

The knot in my chest tightens. “Yeah, buddy. That’s where we’re going today.”

He nods like that's an acceptable answer as he glances towards Emerson's building.

“Can I go give her a hug?”

My throat tightens. I look up at the dark windows of her apartment. “I think she’d really like that.”

Here

Emerson

Coming down now xx

“Ems!” Crew squeals when he sees Emerson walk through the parking lot. She’s wearing a long satin skirt and an old Cross My Heart T-shirt that she cropped. It’s one I didn’t know she had, but the woman is full of surprises—I should just get used to it at this point.

Her dark hair is pulled back in a low bun at the nape of her neck, her bangs long enough to be tucked behind her ears, held with two barrettes clasped just above her ears.

She doesn’t have any makeup on, and I can see the way her eyes are still swollen and red-rimmed.

As she gets closer, she sees Crew waving at her through the window. Her face instantly lights up at the same time her eyes water.

She’s so fucking beautiful.

She opens Crew’s car door, and his arms instantly wrap around her neck, his body straining against the buckle of his car seat to get to her. She hugs him tightly against her before leaning back to look at him.

“That’s a pretty snazzy cast you got there, champ,” she says, a smile on her face as she quickly wipes a tear from the corner of her eye.

“I picked a pink one!” Crew holds up his cast between them. “And look!” he points to a few scribbles. “Mommy signed it. Daddy signed it. And a bunch of people signed it.”

Emerson takes Crew’s arm in his hand, examining all the Sharpie signatures.

Her lips part, and her eyes go to me.

“They all came to the hospital when they heard the news,” I answer before she can ask the question. Jack, Rumi, Ava, and Anderson all rushed over. Since I was with Jack when I got Talia’s call, I figured he was the one who let everyone know.

“I think it was Ava who said I’m stuck with them all now,” I say with a laugh, and I’m so happy she has friends like the ones she does—ones who welcomed me and Crew into their little found family so seamlessly.

“I charged my phone, but I haven’t looked at all their messages yet,” Emerson admits. She reaches through the open back door, brushing a lock of hair out of Crew’s eyes before tapping him lightly on the nose. He lets out a giggle, immediately distracted by his cast again.