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The ride was uneventful and I pulled up to my grandparents’ place right behind my parents. It looked like it was all hands on deck. Both sets of grandparents were already there. So were Callie and Grease, Lily and Leo, Will and Molly—I searched through the group and smiled.
“You’re here,” Reb called as she hurried toward me. “This is so sad! Poor Farrah and Casper.”
“Hey, sweetheart,” I said as she hit, her arms wrapping around my torso in a bear hug. “You came out to help?”
“Yeah,” she said, still holding on. “But Dad said I need to be really careful because there’s probably all sorts of sharp shit and chemicals.”
“Truth,” I agreed. “You want a pair of gloves to protect your hands?”
“You got some?” she asked, finally letting go.
“Yeah, I do,” I said, leading her around the truck to get the bag of gloves. “They’ll probably be too big, though.”
“That’s alright,” she said easily. “The ones at work are always too big, too, but I wear ’em anyway.”
“You still likin’ that job?” I asked as I handed her a pair.
“I really do,” she replied, grinning. “Everyone is so nice.”
“They better be nice to you,” I said, throwing my arm over her shoulder as we made our way over to the group. “You let me know if anyone gives you a hard time.”
Rebel laughed. “That’s what my dad and Uncle Tommy said, too.”
I grinned, giving her a squeeze. Rebel was one of my favorite people on the entire planet. She’d grown up with us, and more often than not, there had been five kids running wild together. As we got older, though, things changed a bit. Reb had Down Syndrome, so while we would’ve gladly had her along for every single adventure, we’d grown in some ways that she hadn’t. She still needed stability and predictability in a way that we didn’t.
She’d had a really hard time when I’d gone to prison.
“Damn,” her dad, Will, said as we reached him and her mom, Molly. “Nice face.”
“It’s not polite to comment on people’s faces,” Reb told him seriously. “Even if you’re curious.”
“I was wonderin’ why you didn’t mention it,” I told her honestly. I should’ve known.
“Are you okay?” she asked, clearly believing that the normal rules didn’t apply since her dad had broken the seal.
“Yeah,” I told her. “I’m alright. But you should go ask Curtis why he looks so much worse than me.”
Rebel grinned. “Did you beat him up?”
“Hell yeah, I did.”
She laughed and walked toward my brother.
“Heard about your little scuffle,” Will said as we watched her go. “You get it out of your system?”
“Mostly,” I replied.
“You should get your eye looked at if it’s not better in a few days,” Molly said with a grimace. “It looks gnarly.”
“Is that your professional opinion?” I asked. Molly was a nurse.
“Hey, I’m off the clock,” she said jokingly. “But you should never mess with something that could affect your eyesight long term.”
“Noted,” I replied.
“Wish I could’ve seen it,” Will said with a small grin. “Looks like you went all out.”
“You could say that,” I replied. “Where have you guys been?”
“We’ve kept Reb home, mostly,” Molly said. “She’s still been working and stuff, but you know how she gets when shit is crazy. We didn’t want to overwhelm her if we didn’t have to.”
“Fires are pretty fuckin’ scary for anyone,” I replied in acknowledgement.
“She wanted to come out and help today, though,” Will said.
“Of course she did,” I said with a nod.
I looked over as another vehicle pulled into the driveway, recognizing Rose’s SUV. My stomach clenched. Hopefully, Kara had come to support Charlie even if she ignored me the entire day. I could live with that. I’d be pissed as hell, but I’d live with it.
Only Rose and Mack climbed out of the SUV, though.
“Kara watchin’ the boys?” I asked as they reached us.
“No,” Rose said in confusion. “Isn’t she here with Charlie?”
My stomach twisted.
“No,” I said slowly. “She wasn’t home this morning.”
“What?” Mack said, frowning.
“Charlie stayed the night at our place and when she got home, Kara wasn’t there,” I replied. “I thought she must’ve went to your place.”
“She didn’t,” Rose said with a shrug. She looked through the crowd again. “I wonder where she is.”
“I’ll call her,” Mack said, pulling out his phone.
“We left the boys at Tommy’s,” Rose told me as Mack called Kara. “Tommy said he’d follow us over once he knew Heather wasn’t going to completely lose her shit with that many kids.”
“Please,” Molly said with a wave of her hand, “she’s a pro. She watched Reb all the time. She’s like a mohawked Mary Poppins.”
Rose laughed. “With the vocabulary of a sailor.”
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” Molly replied with a chuckle.
“She’s not answerin’,” Mack said, putting his phone away. “Went straight to voicemail.”
“Did she turn it off?” Rose asked.
