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“She’s stronger than she looks,” I said, taking his suitcase from him.
“Give me that.” Brody took it from my hands. “Get in the car, you two.”
When we pulled up to the house, Beverly, Tanner, and Khloe were waiting out on the front steps. Beverly held onto Khloe’s arm when she attempted to run to us. She whispered into her ear, most likely reminding her not to jump on us.
I knelt down and opened my arms wide, signaling to Khloe that it was okay to come to me. She leapt down the stairs, and charged into my arms.
“Merry!” she screamed.
“I am so happy to see you, my angel girl!”
“Me too!” She clung to me like a tiny koala.
“Hey, save some for me,” Chase called. He sat down on the top step, and I placed her gently into his lap. She did her best not to squeeze him too hard, and kissed his forehead next to his stitches with her tiny lips.
Tanner bear hugged me. “I’m glad you’re okay, big sis.”
“So am I,” Beverly said. She took my face into her hands. “Thank you for bringing him home. It’s a miracle that you went there when you did.”
I wrapped my arms around her, fighting back the tears.
“You smell, Chasey,” Khloe said pinching her nose in between her fingers. “You need to take a bath.”
Chase chuckled. “You didn’t say that to Merry. She smells, too.”
“You tell him I smell like roses.”
Khloe grinned, showing all of her tiny Tic-Tac teeth. “Merry smells like roses.”
“Why don’t you two go take a shower, and relax?” Beverly said. “I’m making dinner for us tonight, if you’re up for it.”
Chase looked at me, and I smiled. “Of course we’ll be up for it.”
The second we walked inside my apartment, I inhaled the familiar smell of home. “Why don’t you shower first?”
“Are you sure?” Chase asked. “You can go first if you want.”
I shook my head. “I’ll get our things settled in here. You go ahead.”
In my bedroom, I began putting my clothes away. I opened the small box with the necklace Chase had given me for Valentine’s Day inside. Running my finger over it, I silently thanked my father and Tim for watching over us in California. I wondered how many people were not as lucky. I plugged my phone in to charge. When it turned on, a series of texts popped up on the screen. Brooke and Philip were alright, as were the rest of Chase’s bandmates. I felt a wave of relief wash over me, and texted her back.
When Chase reappeared in the room, I held my phone up. “Brooke texted. Everyone’s fine.”
His smile spread across his face. “That’s great news.”
I stood, holding out my knuckles in front of me. “How badly do you think these are going to hurt in the shower on a scale of one to ten?”
He made a face. “Probably an eight.”
I walked into the bathroom. “I can take an eight.”
Though my cuts stung, it felt good to wash the remnants of the earthquake off of my body. I tried to push the scary memory of the actual quake out of my mind, and focus on the important things: everyone we knew had survived, and Chase was home.
When I returned to the bedroom, Chase was lying on the bed in his boxers with a frozen bag of peas on his ribcage. Purple bruises were sprawled underneath his chest, and down the side of his body. I sat on the edge of the bed beside him in my towel, stroking his arm.
“How do you feel?”
“It hurts, but I’ll live.”
