CHAPTER NINETEEN
Hope looked left, right, and straight ahead when she stepped out of the Roar. Of Jay there was no sign. Thankful for this small reprieve, she headed down the street and made her way to the water. She found Mikey at the water’s edge skipping stones. Branna McBride and her daughter, Rose, were watching.
Hope stopped several feet away, and thought about retreating, but Branna turned at that moment and saw her.
“Hey, Hope.”
She had a lovely soft burr to her voice that spoke of her Irish heritage, and if that wasn’t a giveaway there was the dark hair, pale skin, and green eyes.
“Hi, Branna.”
She made herself walk forward. The little girl, who’d had her arms wrapped around Mikey’s leg, released him and looked at her as Hope stopped beside her mother. She had a sweet smile tilting her rosebud lips.
“’Lo.”
Hope wasn’t a kid person as such, mainly because she’d not been exposed to many, but this one, wow, she packed a punch.
“Hey there.” Hope found herself dropping to her haunches. “How you doing?”
The smile showed a mouthful of perfect little white teeth. She wore a sundress sprinkled with blue and white flowers, and little white sandals on her feet. In her hair was a blue satin ribbon.
“She’s so sweet.”
“Today, she’s sweet,” Mikey said as he skipped another stone. “Yesterday she was the child from hell.”
Hope looked at Branna to see how she took this piece of news about her beloved toddler.
“It’s true. Yesterday she screamed for a solid hour when she went down for her nap. Mikey was watching her. He’s tougher than me and Jake.”
“You could never be a hell child, could you, Rose?” Hope gave the child a smile, which she returned. She then moved closer, wrapped her arms around Hope’s neck, and squeezed. Quietly literally, every thought in Hope’s head fled. She couldn’t breathe and her chest hurt. It was bliss.
“Rose McBride, you are a suck-up,” Mikey said, unimpressed.
“It’s true,” Branna added. “She’s not happy unless everyone loves her, which they pretty much do.”
“Meany,” the little girl said, easing back from Hope and glaring up at Mikey. She then patted Hope’s cheek and went to annoy the boy.
“How old is she?” Hope said when she could find her voice.
“Three.”
“If I could have one just like that, I’d do it,” Hope surprised herself by saying.
Branna laughed. “Yes, she’s really something, isn’t she. She told her daddy this morning that she felt he should give her another cup of hot chocolate because she wanted to be as smart as him.”
“Bet that worked.”
Branna sighed. “You’d think because he’s a doctor he’d have more resistance to such a ploy, but no.”
Hope laughed.
“I heard about what happened to you, Hope. And before you get all bent out of shape, it was only because I saw Annabelle in the Hoot and she and Buster were discussing it, and I threatened to break her fingers if she didn’t share.”
“It’s okay, I think most of Howling will know by now.”
She felt Branna’s fingers on her arm.
“No, this is too serious for that. It won’t go outside our group, I promise you. But, Hope, we want to help.”
“I don’t think you can, and after what just happened in the Roar, I’m pretty sure I’m sunk.”
“Okay, that I don’t know, but right now I have to take Rose to meet her nana for lunch. So I’ll hear about it later.”
“See you.” Hope waggled her fingers at the little girl as she left Mikey, after urging him down to her level so she could kiss his cheek. Rose then did the same to Hope.
“Bye, Hope.”
“Can I take some pictures of her before I leave, Branna? I’ll give them to you.”
“Oh, yes please!” Branna hugged Hope and left.
“Right, let’s go, Faith is waiting for us,” Mikey said.
“I thought we were taking more photos of the water?”
“I’m helping you with the shoot tomorrow, remember? We need to get onto the boat now. Jake told me I was wasting my time trying, because he had the winning entry. I need to show him different.”
This place , Hope thought looking around her, is changing me . Even considering what had just taken place with Newman and the Texan lying to Jay, she could feel the change. People were forcing her back into their lives, and she had no say in the matter. And if she was honest, she liked it. Liked being part of a community again. Yes, she was often on the perimeter, but she’d still been a part of it. People still knew her name and wanted to talk to her.
“Okay, let’s go.” If she was only here for a few more days, she’d take them. But she’d stay hidden from Jay until she did leave. No way in hell did she want that confrontation, not when she had to tell him Newman had lied.
Hope, Faith, and Mikey pored over his plans in the storeroom out the back of the Howler. The door was shut and locked from the inside, in case Noah came snooping.
“It’s coming along, don’t you think?” Faith said, looking at the structure on the work bench behind them.
“I’m just not sure about a cardboard boat?” Hope said.
“It’s been done before, Hope,” Mikey said patiently. “I’ve been on YouTube and watched clips, that’s where I got the plans.”
“I feel so old about now.” Faith sighed.
“So I’m guessing it’s all about the glue and the plastic liner, Mikey?” Hope moved closer to look at the plans. She was good at this kind of thing. Her brain liked a logical process to follow, and she worked well when she had direction.
“It is, and the race is in a month, so we have heaps of time to get this done. But I’d like a test run first. It will only hold two of us.”
“I’m not good on the water, so I’ll be the cheering squad,” Faith said.
“But I’m not sure how long I’m hanging around either, so let’s make that decision when and if I leave?”
Mikey and Faith nodded.
They worked steadily for two hours. Hope tried not to think about Jay, and what he now believed and likely had told the other members of Wildlife. She even laughed and lost herself in the moment, even if only briefly.
When Mikey’s phone rang, they were eating cake that Faith had brought in, along with glasses of juice.
“Is she okay?”
The serious tone of Mikey’s voice told Hope the call was not a friendly one. The boy had stopped slouching and was standing upright, shoulders rigid, jaw clenched.
“B-but, Connor, is she… I c-can’t say it.”
Faith and Hope moved closer.
“Okay, I’m coming. Did you call Jake?”
Mikey looked gray as he pocketed his phone.
“Connor found my nana on the floor. Sh-she’s—”
“Let’s go.” Hope took his arm. “I’ll let you know what’s happening, Faith. Call Branna and send her there.”
“Okay.” Faith hugged the boy.
Mikey gripped her hand as they sprinted out of the Howler and along the main street. She didn’t know what to say to him, so she simply held his hand tight in hers. Fear radiated from the boy and her heart ached for him.
“Hope?”
Newman was suddenly running beside them.
“M-Mikey’s n-nana. Sick,” she managed to wheeze.
He didn’t say anything, just moved to the other side of Mikey and kept pace with them.
Mikey’s house was in the same street as hers. At the end, it was small, also like hers, and in need of a paint. But for all that, the garden was weeded and it looked clean. The front door was open. Mikey sprinted through it with Newman and Hope on his heels. They found Dr. Jake McBride inside.
“Jake?” Mikey stopped inside the door.
Over his head Hope looked for Mikey’s nana, but only saw Connor Tucker. He was crying.
Jake walked toward Mikey, opened his arms, and the boy flew into them.
“She’s gone, Mikey.”
Newman urged Hope into the room as the boy began to howl. It was loud and painful, and Newman swallowed several times at the anguish he was so obviously feeling.
“Connor, I’m so sorry.”
He and Hope took the seats on either side of the man. They weren’t friends, because Connor hung with a different crowd, but still, he was a Howler, and Howlers stuck together.
“I-I can’t believe she’s gone.”
The devastation on his face was real. Newman watched Hope hold out her hand to Connor, and he slipped his inside. He remembered then, they’d hung out at school occasionally.
“I-I found her.” He cried then. Loud like his little brother, and Hope held him while he did so.
Newman pulled out his phone and found Cubby’s number. He called him and broke the news. Cubby would see to details.
Branna and Rose arrived next, followed by Annabelle and the two Texans. Last was Macy and her boy, Billy. They were all here for the Tucker boys, and would stay until they were no longer needed.
Mikey left Jake and fell into Branna’s arms. Jake picked up Rose and joined the huddle. Newman watched the little girl pat Mikey’s back and place kisses on his cheek.
“It’s all right, Mikey,” she said softly.
“I have to call my family,” Connor said when he’d stopped crying.
“I’ve told Cubby, Connor.”
The man nodded, then heaved a deep breath.
“I can’t believe she’s gone,” he said, looking at the wall, but not really seeing. “She’s been the only constant in Mikey’s and my life.”
“We got you now, Connor.” Newman regained his feet. “You’re not alone, you know that.”
He nodded, then pulled out his phone and started making calls. The hardest calls he’d ever likely made.
“You okay?” Newman turned to find that Hope had risen.
“Sure.”
Her face was closed, and she was battling down the tears. The grief in the room was so thick you could reach out and grab a handful. It choked him. He hated death, hated grief, and felt helpless when there was nothing he could do to make things better. Newman liked to be in control of a situation, and if not that, then find a solution. Death robbed him of that.
“Can I get you anything?”
“No. I’m not the one in pain, Newman.”
“But you look sad, and I know some of that is because you believe I shouldn’t have said what I did to that limp dick, but—”
“You’re actually talking about this now?” She said the words softly, but there was force behind them.
“Okay, bad timing. I’m sorry. I just don’t want you doing anything rash.”
“Like you did, do you mean?”
“It wasn’t rash and it will work out.”
She looked at him, studied every inch of his face, and Newman suddenly felt naked, as if she could read every thought he held inside. Every fear and uncertainty.
“Maybe you just can’t fix this, Newman, did you think about that? How would that sit on your Superman complex?”
Newman looked around them, but no one was listening.
“I don’t have a Superman complex.”
She gave him another steady look, and he resisted shuffling his feet.
“You can’t help everyone, Newman. It’s just not possible, and you’ll burn yourself out trying.”
She walked away from him then, leaving him feeling raw, rubbed the wrong way, and not sure what the hell he was meant to do now. Picking up the phone he called Cubby again, to bring some food when he came.
Yes, he liked to help people. He just didn’t like the fact that Hope had poked at that place inside him and made him think about why he felt a need to. There was his dad and the shit he carried from him, he understood that, but hell, it wasn’t a problem… was it?