Page 32 of Homecoming

That is not shy, but there is no other way that we can explain why we think a party might not be a good idea.

“Shoot,” Jenny says, “you’re right. I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“We got too excited and forgot all about what the poor girl has been through,” Kat replies.

“You meant well, Mom,” Trick replies softly, relief on his face.

“Thank you for reeling us in, boys,” Kat says, sounding proud, “you saved Rob and Marc a job later when they would have walked in, and no doubt realized the same thing that you did.”

“No problem,” Trick chuckles.

“Well, I guess I will see you when you get home,” Jenny says.

“And I will make sure that I’m not here,” Kat says, which surprises me, “I don’t want to overwhelm her in any way.”

I’m about to point out that her being there is probably not going to be an issue. It’s more the party with everyone there that might be too much, but they have already moved on with the conversation, and maybe it is for the best in the long run. They say their goodbyes and hang up.

“Well, I think that was probably a bullet dodged,” Rafe signs.

“For the moment, yeah,” Trick replies, “I mean, we might have it completely wrong, and she may love a welcome home party, and then the moms can throw one in a couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, true.” I agree and then add, “I don’t think we have it wrong; she didn’t like all the attention on her when she was a kid.”

“Good point.” Trick replies with a fond smile.

“I was thinking,” Rafe starts.

I look at him, “When we have been on the phone?”

“Well, it’s not like I speak,” Rafe signs, somehow managing to convey his sarcasm by facial expression alone, which is fucking impressive and makes me smile.

“Sorry,” I concede, “what were you thinking?”

He smirks, but then his face becomes serious again, “I think we should send a message to Luke and explain the situation as succinctly as possible and tell him that we don’t want to do any more jobs. Think about it: do any of you want to leave Ever now that she is home?”

“Fuck no,” Cash practically shouts, the panic evident in his tone and expression.

I have to say that I agree with him, I can feel that same panic start to overtake me, like if we left her, she would disappear again and this time we would have no hope of finding her again.

“I definitely don’t want to do any jobs,” I reply.

“I’m not leaving her; what if Tomlinson decides to start shit back up again?” Cash explains a bit more, as if his initial outburst wasn’t answer enough and shaking his head for good measure.

“Same, I’m not doing it,” Trick adds fiercely.

“No way,” I add simply, aware that my expression is most likely swimming with emotion.

Rafe smiles and starts signing, “We have only been using Luke the last few months anyway, and not the others. Message him and explain. Then send a message to anyone else that we have used in the past and say that we are out and that we won’t be doing any more jobs for the foreseeable future.”

“On it,” Cash replies, pulling out his phone and sending two very different messages. We don’t have to wait long until we have a reply. “Everyone said some version of okay. Luke said that he was really happy for us and that he completely understands, no more jobs will be sent our way.”

“Awesome,” I reply, feeling relieved after that momentary panic that seemed to engulf the group as a whole.

If Riot and Jensen were here, I know that they would have had a reaction to the suggestion of us carrying on doing jobs as strongly as we did. The idea was horrible to me, and I wasn’t a fan at all.

Thankfully, I wasn’t alone in my reaction, so I didn’t feel like I was going crazy, or at least if I am, I’m in good company.

“Can we go and see Ever yet?” Rafe asks, hopefully.

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