Page 75 of Never Alone
We'd moved twice. We'd lost an apartment to a fire. We'd sat through a custody hearing, a supervised visitation, and a long string of other things that had taken every hour we'd had. A barbecue had not made it onto the list.
But Quinn had been texting. According to Cole, she had not stopped since the day she'd learned about us. By the time a Saturday-morning text on his phone said,if you don't bring her by this weekend, I am coming over, and I am sleeping in your living room until you do, we'd run out of gentle ways to put it off.
Aunt Jenna's name was on the same string. Hers had been kinder. Hers said please.
So I put Noah in his cleanest shirt, dressed myself, and told Cole I was ready.
Sam and Jamie lived on a street where the front yards still had basketball hoops nailed to garages. The house was a two-story with a deep porch and a screen door that slapped twice while we were getting out of the truck. The grill was already going around the back—the smell of charcoal had reached the curb.
Cole came around the truck and opened the door for Noah and me. He set a hand at the small of my back as we walked up the path.
It was the lightest touch. He was telling me I wasn't walking up there alone.
I wanted to lean into it. I made myself walk straight.
Jamie opened the door before Cole could knock. She was warm and smiling, already mid-greeting before her hand left the doorknob.
"Tessa.Finally."
"Hi—"
"Get in here. Cole. About time."
She pulled me into a hug. She hadn't asked first. She didn't intend to.
I came out of it a little startled. I'd been hugged by exactly one person who wasn't Noah since I'd come to Havensworth.
"It's so nice to finally meet you. We've been pestering this man for the longest time to bring you out."
I looked up at Cole. He shook his head.
Sam came up behind her. He nodded at me, and I knew before he opened his mouth that he said one sentence at a time.
"Glad you could make it, Tessa."
"Thank you for having us."
"Anytime."
He turned his head over his shoulder. "Jack. Ben. Get out here."
A thunder of feet came through the house and two boys appeared at his hip. The older one had Sam's face. The younger one had Jamie's smile.
Cole crouched beside Noah. "Bud. This is Jack and Ben. Sam's and Jamie's boys."
Jack—the older—looked at Noah for half a second and made his decision.
"You wanna play?"
Noah looked up at me.
"You know how to play wiffle ball?" Ben said.
Noah shook his head.
"That's okay," Jack said. "We'll show you. C'mon."
They had him by the wrists, pulling him toward the yard. Noah looked back over his shoulder at Cole and me. I felt the question on his face—is it okay?
