Page 81 of Embers in Our Souls
“Of course,” I say. “Do you have water and food bowls? Because I got some just in case.”
Indy looks over at me with a surprised look.
“What?” I ask.
“You got my cat supplies?”
“Well, yeah. I wasn’t sure if you needed me to.” I shrug.
She simply smiles at me as she opens the carrier. “I brought some, but that’s really sweet. Thank you.”
“Of course. I can return what I got. I just wanted to make sure he was covered. I don’t want to be ill-prepared.” I wink.
Noah comes running over. “Hunter has a pool, Mom!”
“Wow! How exciting.” She looks at him.
“Do you think we can swim here in the summer?” If it were possible, I’d think he’d have stars in his eyes.
“I don’t know, sweetie. That’s something we would have to see. But, right now we have to focus on Darth.” Looking at me, she smiles. Swinging the door to the carrier open, she looksinside. Darth pokes his head out, hesitant to come out, looking at his new surroundings.
Noah goes back to looking at the fenced-off pool, distracted for a moment.
I whisper to her, “If it’s okay with you, I’d like for him to swim here this summer.”
“Yeah?” She looks into my eyes. I nod. “Alright. That’s all you.”
“Hey, Noah. Your mom said you can come by this summer to swim, bud.”
“Really? Yes!” He throws his arms up in the air.
I smile, it feels like a win.
Slowly, Darth starts to come out of the carrier, looking around my place. He’s only staying two days, but I’m excited to have some company. Hopefully this will be a better experience than the foster puppy I had a while back.
“You sure you’re good watching him?” Indy asks.
“For the millionth time, yes. I promise we will be fine,” I tell her.
Noah walks over and pulls out a piece of paper from his back pocket. Once he unfolds it, I realize it’s full of crayon written instructions of what Darth needs throughout the day.
This kid is fucking adorable.
I’m leaning against the counter and staring at the fridge. I can’t stop looking at Noah’s crayon-filled handwriting that I taped up shortly after he and Indy left. That’s what I’m doing when my friends start walking in from the back patio door.
I’m taking a drink of my beer and Malloy pats me on the back in greeting.
“Hey, man. Thanks for having us over; glad to have a day out. Your place is the nicest to have a BBQ.” He puts items down on the kitchen counter as I turn around, greeting the rest of our friends.
I give River and Clay a side hug, patting them on the back. Ashton joined us today, he’s the twins’ childhood friend. He’s not a firefighter with us, but he comes along when he can get away from his busy schedule. He’s more reserved, but it’s nice to have him balance everyone out. Plus, he has the patience of a saint if he can handle River and Clay together for as long as he has.
“Good to see you, man.” I give him a hug. “How are the kids?” I ask him. He has toddler boy and girl twins.
“Non-stop. That’s all I can say. They’re running around and terrorizing Samara and I constantly, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He smiles from ear to ear. “I don’t think I’ll sleep for the rest of my life though.”
“I bet.” I laugh with him. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Honestly, I think I’ll have a beer, please.”
