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But the hum of the car seemed to work some kind of magic on me.
Until I was out cold.
“Angel, come on,” a soft voice called, sounding like it was coming from far away.
A grumble escaped me as the voice pulled me closer to consciousness, making me aware of a crick in my neck.
“Claire, we’re here,” the voice said, and this time, a finger stroked down my cheek. “Trust me, I’d love to carry you in,” he continued. “But I have to carry Judah.”
My son’s name had me jolting awake, only to find myself arched over his carseat, the awkward position to blame for the sharp pain shooting up my neck and into my skull. It only got worse as I straightened.
“Hey,” Aurelio said, giving me a soft, tired smile from where he was leaning in the doorway of the car.
“Hey,” I said, reaching up to rub my neck. “How long have I been asleep?”
“An hour and a half,” he told me.
“Felt like five minutes,” I grumbled.
“You can crash as soon as we get inside,” he assured me, reaching over me to un-click my seatbelt, then moving out of the way, so I could climb out.
He leaned back in, getting Judah free, then carefully pressing him to his shoulder before wrapping his free arm around me, hauling me into his side as we moved around the SUV to look at the safe house.
I couldn’t say what I was expecting.
I guess in movies, safe houses were not actual houses, but crummy apartments in bad neighborhoods, somewhere cheap to rent and easy to blend in.
But this? This was an actual house.
Nothing like Aurelio’s gorgeous gothic farmhouse, of course.
It was more like a starter house. A squat little ranch with a brick face and cute yellow shutters.
There was no landscaping out front, but the yard was well-kept.
It was too dark to see past the house itself, so I had no idea how close the neighbors were. If there were any at all. Though I could see a tall stockade fence protecting the backyard from view, and my heart swelled a little at the idea of maybe being able to take Judah outside once in a while when we were getting cabin fever.
Aurelio’s hand slid from me to fish for the key to the front door, then we moved inside to a familiar beeping sound of the security system.
He plugged in the code before flicking on the light to reveal the cozy, somewhat sparse interior.
We walked right into an L-shaped room, one side serving as the living room with a couch and loveseat, two end tables, and a TV on the wall, and the other side was the dining space with a small rectangular table with four chairs.
Stepping in a few feet, there was a hallway right off the side of the dining room, leading to what seemed like a central bathroom and three bedrooms.
Off the other side of the dining room was a long kitchen with white cabinets, green countertops, and a warm yellow color on the walls.
“It’s cute. At least we won’t have to worry about stairs,” I said as Aurelio opened two of the doors in the kitchen. One went to the garage. The other went to a basement.
“I’m gonna have to run out first thing in the morning to stock up. Looks like the only things in here are some old canned goods for emergencies,” Aurelio said.
We’d packed things we thought we might need immediately—a cooler stocked with milk, eggs, some yogurt, and a bunch of dry goods—but we definitely would need more stores. Especially if we were going to be here for any length of time.
“How long do you think we will be here?” I asked as Aurelio led me down the hallway toward the bedrooms, opening each until he found the one that had a folding playard leaned against the wall.
“I’m hoping not longer than a week,” Aurelio said, carefully passing Judah into my arms, so he could open the playard.
In the closet, he found bedding in vacuum-sealed bags, and set the temporary crib up for Judah, then slipped him inside.
