Page 65 of The Homecoming

“We are.”

“You must hate me.” His voice cracked; he may have been in tears.

“I don’t hate you, Jason.”

“You should.”

“Maybe, but I don’t think it’d do any good.”

“Why are you being so nice?”

Autumn looked down at Danny asleep in the crook of her arm. “Because in your right mind, you’d never hurt me.”

“I wouldn’t,” he agreed.

“Where are you?”

“Knoxville,” he replied. “They say I need to go to Vanderbilt.”

Tears fell down her cheeks; with the phone in one hand and her baby asleep in the crook of her other, she didn’t have a way to wipe her eyes. “I hope you get the help you need to get better.”

“Thank you for not giving up on me.”

***

Autumn didn’t have any trouble falling asleep in the hospital bed. The day had been a nightmare, but somehow everyone had lived, and now Jason would hopefully be able to get better.

The lights in her room dimmed as she woke in the middle of the night. Baby Danny slept in the bassinet next to her bed and would probably wake soon for a diaper change or for food. She’d give the breastfeeding thing another try, but he hadn’t wanted anything to do with her breasts earlier. So far, he was nothing like his father. That man never turned down food or boobs.

Suddenly, she was hit with the distinct feeling she was not alone. She turned toward the couch, and there sat Weasel. Though she registered who it was, she still jumped.

“How’d did you get in here after visiting hours?”

He picked up his badge attached to a chain around his neck and let it fall. “Very little questions with this. And I know most of the nurses.”

She nodded. “So, are you up early or are you still going from yesterday?”

“Still going.”

She picked up the cell phone on the table next to the bed. “Two thirty in the morning?”

He nodded.

“Rumor has it you cussed out everyone at emergency services.”

“Everyone manager level and above,” he smiled. “I might go get thrown out of the Mayor’s office next. Whatever it takes to get more ambulances out here.”

“Probably a good idea.”

“You know, Ms. Mac, I’ve learned something new about you McMillan’s over the last year. That when you say you’re fine, what you actually mean is ‘things are going to hell, but I am not tellin’ you.’”

“Sometimes, things are fine.”

“And I knew,” he continued in a low voice, “I knew somethin’ wasn’t right. You hid being pregnant and then you hid how bad Jason was.”

“To be fair,” she mentioned, “I didn’t know how bad he was until it was too late.”

“And when I found you the other day after you’d called me, it bothered me that you were sitting on the floor with the gun. It was a defensive posture up against the wall, and he was across the room.”

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