After breakfast Rogue went to his cabin and hasn't come out since. I've been listening for him all day without meaning to.
Nash, at the kitchen table with a juice box, looks up at me. "Mama?"
"Yeah, baby?"
He smiles wide and clasps his hands together. "Is Rogue gonna eat dinner with us tonight?"
"I think so, baby. He said he'd come find me for dinner."
"At our cabin or at the bunkhouse?"
"I don't know yet, baby."
Nash thinks about it. "I hope our cabin. He doesn't get to eat at our cabin enough."
I pause with my hand on the dishtowel I've just picked up and look at my son.
Six-year-old logic. Six-year-old conclusion. Roguebelongsin our cabin. Rogue belongs at our table. Rogue eats at our cabin in some other version of our lives, and in Nash’s eyes, he’s not here enough.
I sit down across from Nash. "You'd like that, baby? Him eatin' here more?"
"Yeah."
"Okay."
He nods, moves on to his next thought without taking a breath. "Mama, can Diesel sleep in my room tonight?"
"Diesel is supposed to sleep out in the kennel baby."
"Yeah, but he told me he wants to be our dog and live in our house so I think we should let Diesel live with us." He goes back to his juice box, decision made.
I sit at the table and know arguing with him won’t get me anywhere. “Fine, but only if Rogue and the others say it’s okay.”
Nash has already been through so much since losing his father. If he wants this dog, who he loves adoringly, who am I to tell him no?
Nash runs off to go play as my phone rings.
Unknown number.
Different from the one Todd called from before.
I stare at it for a moment.
I'm done letting my phone scare me.
I pick it up. I don't say hello.
There’s silence on the other end, then a woman clearing her throat. "Hadley?"
My whole body goes still.
It's Mama Cross. Garrett's mama.
I haven't heard her voice in a few weeks now.
"Mama Cross, Hi."
"Hadley, baby. Are you all right?"