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“Okay, maybe this is a bit much. You look tired. We can do this another day.”
“Tank weezus,” Joseph said as I burst out in hysterical laughter.
Amber cut her eyes at her son. “Okay, monkey, you get dressed for bed.”
“Wead me a book?”
“I’ll be right there,” Amber promised.
Joseph shook his head. “No, Aylor.” He turned to me with a smile.
“Okay, buddy,” I agreed.
“Tank weezuz.”
Amber straightened in her chair. “Aaron?!”
Aaron poked his head out of the kitchen. “Yeah, babe?”
“My son seems to think thanking Jesus is a necessary period to end each sentence. You wouldn’t happen to know where he got that from, would you?”
Aaron winced with guilt. “Sorry, babe. We’ll get it right with the next kid.”
Amber shook her head. “So cocky,” she said with a smile as he gave her a wink. She turned to me. “I worry, though,” she said as she looked toward Joseph’s bedroom. “He’s having problems with his speech. He’s just not getting it.”
I looked over to my sister, who had transformed in the time I was away. Her recovery from the gunshot had been a slow nightmare, but Aaron had been there every step of the way. I’d visited often enough, but it was clear to me after a few trips she had someone new to look after her. In fact, I’d been visiting Charleston as an out of towner, not a resident.
“You had speech problems too.”
She looked at me in shock. “I did?”
“You did, and a lisp. Don’t worry. He’ll get it.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“It was adorable,” I pointed out as she gave me wide eyes. Joseph called from bed. “AAAAYLOR. I WEADY!” We both chuckled as I moved to get up. “That kind of adorable.”
Amber looked me over with a small smile. “You’ve changed a little.”
I raised my brow. “How?”
“Just a little softer around the edges,” she noted as she glanced back at Aaron, who was busy in the kitchen. “Nothing wrong with that.”
Honesty. “I’ve been trying to figure some things out, let sleeping dogs lie, you know?”
Amber’s faint dimple appeared. “Sleeping dogs can’t lie. They’re asleep.” We shared a smile at one of our old corny but shared childhood jokes.
Amber stood and gave me a hug. “We miss you. Really. I know it’s hectic when you come, but Joseph asks for you all the time. I don’t mean to twist your arm, and I know you’ve been through a lot but—”
“So have you,” I pointed out.
Amber shook her head. “I don’t want to get emotional.”
“Good,” I deadpanned, and we both laughed. Her eyes watered anyway. “What you did for us—”
I cut her off, unwilling to take the credit. “You brought yourself here. Don’t forget that.”
Amber took a step forward and wrapped her arms around me. My reaction was instant. We hugged for a silent minute as Joseph peered out his bedroom, a replica of Lazarus Walker, with an open hand waving for me to come to him. “I think it’s time I came home too.”
