Page 58 of In the Shadows

Chapter

Twelve

Home.Just saying it was like breathing in fresh air. We got on the Maiden jet, got Joey situated on the back couch and took off. Of course the guys from Maiden went above and beyond, having catered meals brought on for us for the flight and man I’d never been so thankful to anyone as I had been to them. Our flight didn’t land until the middle of the night, but Sal had a car waiting for us and we crashed at Joe’s place.

Joe opened the door and Diamond and I got Joey up the stairs, which was no easy feat. He was walking well, but stairs were part of his next PT sessions. I felt for the poor guy, he was clearly frustrated, but had he been able to see himself lying lifeless in that hospital bed he would be feeling otherwise right now. There was no way I would ever sleep without him by my side again, so Brett moved the rest of my clothes and stuff he knew I’d want to have nearby like my guitars into Joey’s room while we were still in Boston.

Traveling made for a tiring, long ass day. As soon as I had us both stripped down, we were down for the count. My mom had texted me earlier to text her when we got up the next morning. They hadn’t told Brandon we were coming home yet or he would have driven them insane to come over here and wake us up and that wouldn’t have been good for any of us.

After we got ready, we headed to my folks house to eat and so everyone could see us. Brandon ran up to me as soon as I walked in. I picked him up with my good arm and he made kissy fish faces at me.

“Mwah,” he said as he kissed me, turning in my arm to do the same to Joey.

“Sweet sound effects, little man,” Joey told him.

Brandon raised his little hand up to run it across Joey’s hair that was growing back in and giggled. Joey bent down, rubbing his head across Brandon’s face and he spotted the big ass scar.

“JoJo’s owie is big.” His eyes were wide open and the look of horror on his face made me think he was gonna freak out and start screaming.

Joey must have noticed it too. “I’m good, buddy, look.” Joey lightly ran his hand over the massive scar. “No worries. Do you want to touch it?”

Brandon vehemently shook his head ‘no’ before tightening his grip on me. This was a bit much for the little guy to handle.

“JoJo’s okay,” I whispered to him, kissing the top of his head.

“Joey,” my mom said, fiercely hugging him. “Oh baby, I’m so happy you’re better,” she cried.

“I’m okay, Mom,” he said, squeezing her.

Mom…One day I’d find the right time and way to propose.

She patted his cheek before turning to me, taking Brandon out of my arms and launching herself inside them. “You guys scared the shit out of us.” At this point, her gentle tears turned into loud sobs.

Brett came to the rescue. “Mary, my love, the boys are fine and here with us.”

She turned to face him, sobbing uncontrollably in his arms.

He soothed her, “Babe, didn’t you make breakfast for them?” He winked at me, distracting her from her cries. He knew she loved to feed us and that would draw her away from her dire thoughts.

She hugged Diamond and Joe, Mickey had gone home last night to sleep in his own bed so he wasn’t with us this morning. “Joe.” She turned to him and teared up again.

“Mary, our boys are just fine and are hungry. Do I smell bacon?”

Between him and Brett, they’d make certain her sorrow was turned around. For that alone, I was thankful to both of them. I didn’t like it when my mom was sad. I understood why, this was the most traumatic event of our lives and I hoped it would be the last, but I didn’t like seeing her upset. It would just upset Brandon if he saw her crying too.

We followed the smell of bacon and eggs to the kitchen we’d spent most of our childhood eating in.

“Sit, sit.” She gestured to the seats before filling up plates and bringing them to us. It made her feel good to take care of us and I wasn’t going to take that away from her. “When does your PT start?” she asked, taking her own seat.

“Tomorrow,” I said, “Joey will be going five days a week and me three days to start off.”

“They said I should only have about another six weeks of it. Dr. Stone was pretty pleased with the progress I’d made before we left,” he told her.

“Only we forgot to tell him about the stairs,” Diamond added.

“Oh no,” she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

“It’s all good, Mom, Diamond and I got him up there without any incidents to report.”

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