Page 186 of Hurt

They were remembering Noah as a toddler, clinging to the railing as he tottered along the porch. His ambition was the lake, but his little legs would never carry him there. Kurt and Willow would take turns holding him in the water, watching as his chubby fingers reached for the lily pads.

He wasn’t a kid anymore.

He had changed. Leaner, a strain in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Bags under his eyes that matched the weight on his shoulders. At nineteen, he was the leader of White Sand Mesa. His hands had killed. He was an Elliott.

Elijah emerged from the house, handing Noah a drink and taking a seat beside him. Noah dropped his head to Elijah’s shoulder and laughed at something Willow said.

Kurt had wanted Noah to be safe and happy. He supposed that smiling next to his assassin boyfriend while playing hooky from being the leader of the second largest gang in the world was about as close as he was going to get.

“Are you sure you want to sell this place?” Noah asked as he ran his fingers along the wooden floor.

Grant looked at him. It was a question he had seen on the man’s lips many times over the last weeks.

He looked up at the roof of the porch. His eyes traced the support struts. A bird had already begun nesting in the corner. Kurt wondered if she had laid eggs yet. Soft, round, new beginnings. Nestled amongst the grass and leaves she had painstakingly built. Her efforts to support her babies as they come into a cruel world were beautiful in a way. Why spend so much time on something temporary? Those eggs would crack, the babies would grow and eventually leave. Take flight and start a life somewhere else.

Before he had come back here, he might have thought it a pointless endeavor. Wasted effort. But now, now he knew there was beauty in a new start. That just because it wasn’t going to last doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth the effort.

He smiled and rested his shoulder against Grant.

“It’s time for a new start.”

They didn’t ask him any more questions, and as the sun dipped down, they continued chatting. Willow kept them plied with drinks and snacks. No one turned on the music. They let their voices fill the silence—stupid stories, fond memories, and ideas for the future. Nothing and everything. The kind of conversation where the words would fade, but the feelings wouldn’t.

The three Weavers ended up in the kitchen, determined to cook something substantial. Their stubborn refusal to live off Little Debbie cakes and beef jerky was the dividing line between them and their romantic partners.

With their backs to the house, they didn’t say anything for a while. Occasionally one of them would take a sip, exhale, then the can would clink back to the wood.

“Where do you think we would be if my parents hadn’t died?” Noah asked without looking at either of his uncles.

Willow snorted. “The time to get theoretical was three beers ago, kid.”

Noah ducked his head, hiding behind the fringes of his bangs as he huffed a laugh. Brushing off the question as if it didn’t really matter.

“She would have figured out a way to keep us all together,” Kurt said to the surprise of the other two.

Willow nodded. “Yeah, one look from her and the bank wouldn’t have even thought about taking the house. You know the one.”

“The one with the eyebrow?”

“Yeah.” Willow shuddered.

“Probably would have made me finish school,” Kurt admitted.

“Worse,” Willow countered. “She would have made you go to college. All on the Mesas dime, of course. Your dad was whipped.”

Noah blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Oh yeah.” Willow finished off his can and tossed the empty into the cooler. “Spent years denying he liked her. Swore up and down that she was just a silly girl. Then she started ignoring him completely, and that was it. Followed her around like a puppy, offering to drive her home from school or help her with her homework.”

“My dad? The future heir of White Sand Mesa?”

“Oh! Remember the water guns?” Willow asked with a glint in her eyes.

Kurt laughed. “Oh, man. I haven’t thought about that in forever.”

“So, your dad finally got your mom to agree to drive her home from school. But Kurt and I leaned right out…that window.” Willow pointed to one of the second-story windows that faced the driveway. “With two super soakers. Nailed him right as he got out of the car.”

“He was so mad,” Kurt remembered. “And when he looked at your mom for help, she just laughed and said ‘Gosh, if only I weren’t such a silly girl’ and then left him gaping in the driveway, soaking wet and embarrassed.”