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Right. Finally some proper information. Not that it was great news by any stretch, but at least he was taking me seriously. “Thank you.” I turned to Tully. “We should go.”
“Look,” Jimmy said. “Sorry... about before. I didn’t mean any disrespect. What you did with the message on the radar was real smart, and it saved lives, no doubt about it.”
Given he’d said it with sincerity, I met his eyes and gave him a nod. “Do you know if the emergency response office is open?”
Tully pulled on my arm. “Yeah, no. Your work is done today. Let other people do their jobs.”
I pulled my arm free, annoyed. “There are still parts of the state—”
Tully held his hand up and raised one finger. “First of all, this is a Territory, not a state. You’re new here so I’ll let that slide. Second of all, you haven’t slept properly in two days. You saved enough people today, and you almost died twice.” He held up two fingers. “Twice I thought you were gonna die today, two separate times, which is more than enough, thanks.” He fired a filthy look at Jimmy. “And you still get disrespected. So you know what? You’ve done all you can do today; let other people do their jobs. What you need right now is food and sleep, and what I need right now is you. And my brother lost his house and everything he owns, and half the city is gone. So...” His bottom lip wobbled, and I knew then that Tully was well and truly at his limit.
I slid my hand around the back of his head and pulled him against me. “Okay. Let’s go.”
His mum came over and put her hand to Tully’s hair. “Come back to our place. Rowan’s cooking some meat on the BBQ. Get some food in your belly and then you can sleep.”
Tully looked about ready to argue, but I nodded. “We’ll be there, thank you.”
He pouted and went to the passenger seat of the Jeep, which meant I was driving. Ellis went with his parents, and they drove off first. “I just want to go home,” he said.
I was about to start the engine, but I didn’t. I turned to face him instead. “Spend time with your family.” I took his hand. “They need to see you, and you need to spend time with them. Especially Ellis. Especially today. It could have been a very different outcome today. If the cyclone had been just a few streets over, your entire family...” I dropped my head. “I know you’re tired. But just give them one hour.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment and I wondered if I’d overstepped, but when I looked up at him, he was smiling. It was a teary smile, a tired smile, but it was a grateful smile that made my heart knock against my ribs. “Okay,” he murmured.
I nodded and kissed his knuckles, then started the Jeep and drove us to his parents’ house.
* * *
Tully playedwith his nieces and nephews, he chatted with Zoe and Rowan—siblings he wasn’t particularly close to—he had some quiet conversations with Ellis, and his parents hugged all of them a lot.
We checked on the bird in the box and managed to feed it some minced beef and water. Mr Larson said it was a baby magpie, likely unable to fly to escape the storm. I figured if it lived through the night, we could take it to someone to look after.
I sat with his mum while Tully helped his dad take down the boards of plywood from the windows and they tidied up the yard. The old weather station Tully had installed was nowhere to be found, but that wasn’t surprising.
“Thank you for making him come back,” his mum said quietly. “I know he didn’t want to.”
“He needed to,” I said. “And he’ll be glad he did.”
She smiled as she watched him lifting off one of the boards. “You have a way with him,” she said, still smiling. “You calmed him down so easily today. He listens to you.”
“It’d been a stressful two days, that’s all,” I said, dismissing her claim. “Though he does have a short fuse.”
She chuckled. “He really doesn’t. He’s normally very placid. Cool-headed and easy going; it’s what makes him very good at his job. He’d be the one to break up a fight, never start one. He argues with his brother all the time, but that’s all in jest. Mostly. I think I’ve seen him genuinely bristle only three times in his life: once was when he cussed out the news reporters on live TV, and two times were today.”
“Oh. Well, he was tired and hungry today,” I said, immediately trying to defend him. Then I realised what point she was making. “Those three times are because of me? Are you implying I’m not good for him?” I started to feel a little unwell... I was too tired to be having this conversation right now.
She took my hand and squeezed it. “Heavens no, just the opposite actually.”
I was so confused. “I’m not following. Sorry, I—”
“He was defending you, Jeremiah.” She smiled at Tully, who was now bickering with his dad about how he was holding the board while his father unscrewed it. “He’s so in love with you.”
Oh, dear god.
“And it’s wonderful to see,” she mused happily, still watching him. He was still bickering with his father.
“Are you sure he doesn’t have a temper, because...?” I gestured to him. He was now arguing a little louder than before.
“Okay, maybe a little bit,” she allowed. She patted my leg. “Take him home.”
