Page 81 of True Honey
“Earth to Doc,” Jensen said, “you alright?”
“Yeah, Jenny… Fine.” I assured but everything was either really incredible, or a fucking shit show. There was no in-between. In a few weeks the trial would start for my father’s charges, and each day we got closer to them asking Josh to get up on that stand and testify against his father. It’ll be the first time he's seen him since the beginning of the season, and it made me sick to my stomach to even ask him to do it.
But we needed his word.
His voice, his story, is what would lock him up for good. We had no choice.
“Yeah,” Cael looked at me suspiciously. “There is nothing fine about you,” he narrowed his eyes on me. “You know what you need?”
“We aren’t doing that again, it made a mess last time,” Dean said as he dug through the fridge.
“Shut up, not that,” Cael grumbled, his face twisted in pain for a second. He did his best to breathe through the wave before speaking again. “It’s a puddle jumping day.”
“We aren’t kids anymore,” I said instantly, “and you can’t get that cast wet.”
“Okay, buzzkill.” He smiled wickedly and turned to the cupboard, hauling out a massive box of garbage bags with a hiss of pain and a loud thump. “Don’t be silly, wrap your—”
“Do not finish that sentence,” I said looking between him and an innocent August.
“Problem solved, Grandpa.” He whipped out a bag, ripping the bottom with his teeth to make a hole and pulled it down over his head like a poncho. “No wetcast, we can still have fun and you can’t say no because if Momma had asked, you wouldn’t have even thought about it!”
“We aren’t—”
Arlo cleared his throat from the archway, “we were never kids.” Ella stepped up behind him. “The best part about puddle jumping was that it gave us permission to be kidsagainSi, and you know it. If Rainy was here she’d be pissed we were wasting time arguing over it.”
“It’s stupid,” I said looking around the full kitchen at my family.
“That’s the fucking point,” Van said, leaning against the counter in a sleeveless t-shirt with a approving smile on his face. “I’m in.”
“What is going on?” Ella asked.
“Lorraine believed that the rain could wash away all our stress, she believed in the power of rainy days because they only showed up when one of us really needed them.” I explained because the rest of them had gone silent. “She said the weather man was a glorified overpaid psychic and Mother Nature was healing.”
“It’s raining for a reason, Doc.” Dean said. “We’d be stupid not to go play in it.”
“No slip in slide, if any of you get hurt it's on me and—”
“We know!” The kitchen erupted and they all started to toss their phones on the island one by one before piling out of the kitchen. “I’m going to wake up everyone else,” Cael yelled, jogging through the house noisy and crashing to the upper floor.
“How is he?” I asked Clementine as the house emptied out.
“He’s a menace.” She smiled at me, “he’s in ton of pain but he’s the same talk first, think later, fuck hard and play harder Cael. Just a little unbalanced at the moment.”
“Do you need anything?” I asked her after a good laugh.
“We’re fine, Silas,” she said and for once I genuinely believed her.
“Alright, well if you need anything,” I started and she gave me a dirty look.
“I’ll call his dad, you have enough on your plate. Now get your ass outside before he finds out you aren’t out there and throws a fit,” she warned, her brown hair swaying as she turned to leave the kitchen.
“I’m glad you’re here, Clem.” I said to her as she walked down the hallway, only for her to raise her hand and wave me off. I pulled my phone out and slid it on the counter, stripping from my dress shirt to join the boys in the pouring rain.
I stood on the step watching them utilize the holes in the gravel driveway as they started to fill with water. Cael found the stereo and set it up on the porch with Van’s help, blasting some of the worst ninety’s music they could find over the lawn. I smiled to myself as they danced around, letting everything loose and just enjoying themselves the way they should at that age. Ella was singing at the top of her lungs dancing around a stiff August who took a second to get into the groove.
My heart slowed in my chest as the rain hit my outstretched hand and I closed my eyes, stepping down off the step to let it wash away all of my stress exactly the way it was meant to. My muscles relaxed and my breathing became even as if I’d never experienced a moment of worry in my entire life. I felt bulletproof in the moment. The sound of the music, the rain and the laughter flooded my soul in a way I didn’t know I realized.
But Cael had.
