Page 126 of Between Hello and Goodbye

“What’s going to happen to it?”

“Well, they’ll probably…tear it down.”

Kaleo sat still for a moment, then faced his papers. “I want to go home.”

My eyes fell shut at the pain that squeezed my chest. “I know you do, and I wish we could. I’d give anything for that, but…”

He looked at me with his big brown eyes, wide with fear because no one had told him that’s what grief could be either. “Can’t you fix it, Uncle Ash? Can’t you and your firemen friends fix it so it won’t slide?”

I can’t fix anything. Not a goddamn thing.

I shook my head. “I wish we could, buddy. But you’re going to live here, and we can decorate your room the same way. However you want.”

“I’m going to live with you forever?”

“Yeah. I’ll…”

I almost saidI’ll take care of you, but anger gripped my throat in a chokehold. First Morgan, then Kal. The universe, or God, or whoever the fuck kept stealing parents from little kids and leaving it to me to step in. As if I could replace them.

“Okay,” Kaleo said dully and went back to his work.

I didn’t know what else to say, so I ruffled his hair again and joined Chloe in the kitchen. The scent of spaghetti sauce laced the air, along with the garlic bread baking in the oven.

“Hey,” she said with a smile. “How was the meeting with your manager?”

“Terrible,” I said in a low voice. “Have to sell the business and I just had to tell Kal the house is gone. Too dangerous.”

“Oh no.” Chloe took oven mitts from a drawer. She knew my kitchen like the back of her hand. “How did he take it?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure it’s fucking horrible, but I can’t read him.” I rubbed my eyes for the millionth time and glanced around. Chloe had cooked dinner and the table was set. Kal was doing his homework. Stability. Something I was struggling to give him.

“Chloe…I was thinking about your offer to move in here.”

“It still stands.”

“But you’d keep your own place,” I said. “And it wouldn’t be permanent. I couldn’t ask that. Just until I get my shit together.”

Her smile was wide and her eyes warm as they looked at me. “That’s what I want. To help you however I can.”

I nodded. “But…and I don’t want to sound like a presumptuous ass, but I can’t be anything to anyone right now.”

An understatement. My heart was completely shattered but every little piece still belonged to Faith and always would. Missing her was another brick on the pile I carried around. One of the heaviest.

“I know,” Chloe said. “And I’m not trying to pressure you. There are no conditions for me being here or expectations on my part. But maybe…” Her cheeks turned pink. “Maybe just keep an open mind?” She looked up at me through lowered lids with a glance that was entirely full of expectation. “And an open heart?”

Mental alarms went off, but they were lost in the cacophony that was already there. And because I had no fucking idea what I was doing anymore, I nodded absently.

“Sure.”

Chloe smiled, satisfied, and pulled the bread out of the oven. “Dinner’s ready.”