Page 111 of The Art of Dying

“I’m fine,” I said wiping my brow. “My… my children are in the Cadillac, strapped into their car seats.”

The officer directed his men and the remaining paramedics to the car.

Jackie led me to the futon. “You might be going into shock. I just want to run you a line, okay? Your husband and friend are in good hands.” She looked up. “You got the kids?”

“Got ’em! They’re good!” one of the paramedics called back. “The dog is in a coma or something, though.”

I looked over at Kitsch. They raised his stretcher and then began to wheel him out. He reached for me, and I kissed my free hand and reached for him, too.

“What on God’s green earth happened here?” Jackie asked.

“Crazy ex-boyfriend,” I said, leaning back.

Jackie’s eyes widened. “Damn, sis, I’m going to apologize to mine. I was straight pissed he never spoke to me again.”

I chuckled and then watched as they brought the kids and Apple over. Emily was just waking up, confused and whimpering.

“I wanted to come help, but then I saw Daddy and I wanted to get out and hug him, but you said not to leave Emily. So, I stayed with her, Mom, just like you said.”

I kissed his forehead. “You were perfect, love. You did everything right.”

“I was scared,” he said, his voice breaking.

“You were so brave,” I said, pressing my cheek to his hair.

“Where did they take Daddy?”

“To the hospital. He’s going to be okay. And guess what?”

He looked up at me with his big, green eyes. “What?”

“Daddy is going to stay home from now on.”

Dylan smiled and then reached for Apple, who was rousing and just as confused as Emily. The paramedics placed her in Dylan’s lap, and my son put a comforting hand on her, resting his head against my arm. “Is Gina going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. I hope so.”

“Are we moving again?”

I winced when Jackie inserted the catheter into my vein. “Yes.”

“Are we going back to our old house?”

“I don’t know. We’ll ask Daddy when we see him, okay? And you can tell him how brave you were.”

Dylan grinned, nestled against me and then put his free arm around his sister. “Just like Daddy.”

“Exactly like Daddy,” I said, letting my head fall back against the wall.

Day 5,106

chapter twenty-nine.

Kitsch

The sun had just begun to peek through the blinds, casting long, rectangular bars of light on the wall behind my beautiful, sleeping wife. A few minutes from that moment, the light would drift down to her closed eyelids, and she would open those big, green eyes and smile at me.

We’d only been in Colorado for a week, but it had taken me more than a month to talk Mack into going. We’d been staying in various hotels for months in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, the Oklahoma panhandle, then New Mexico, edging closer to Colorado once Trex asked me to join the rest of the team for a new security gig at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado Springs. Mack knew what I was doing each time I pushed for a new location. Sure, it was for safety, but every time I suggested moving farther west, a knowing grin would spread across her face.

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