Page 12 of Fire and Rain
She settled Maverick on the floor with his little Lego Duplo blocks. “Want to build a dump truck?”
“Copta.”
Justin had gotten this Lego set for Maverick because the pieces could be used to make a helicopter. Naturally, that’s what Maverick wanted to build first.
“Show me how to make the helicopter.” Eden willed herself to focus only on her son.
Maverick took the block she offered and put it together with the one he held in his left hand. “Got it.”
She smiled. “Yep. You got it.”
He knew what he was doing, and slowly the helicopter came together. But what fun was a helicopter unless you made it fly? When it was done, Maverick stood and held it up, blowing raspberries to make the whir of the rotors.
“Look at it go.” Eden had been twenty when her father was killed in a car crash, and she couldn’t imagine growing up without him. She’d give anything to know how much Maverick understood. Had he noticed that his father no longer came home, no longer ate meals with them, no longer read to him, played with him, or gave him baths?
Stop. Don’t do this to yourself.
Eden heard a car engine and saw her mother turn into the driveway. She got to her feet and groaned to see that her cousin Mila Crane had come, too. She’d asked her mothernotto bring Mila again, not after the way she had behaved last time she was here. She’d had the audacity to tell Eden that she waswallowingin grief rather than trying to heal.
Eden couldn’t handle Mila—not today.
She got to her feet. “Baba is here, Mavie.”
But Maverick’s attention was riveted on the little helicopter.
Eden opened her front door. While Mila finished a phone call next to the car, Eden’s mother hurried up the steps and walked inside.
“Why did you bring her?” Eden whispered. “I can’t deal with her today.”
“I told your Aunt Evelyn that I was coming, and I guess she told Mila. What was I supposed to do? Tell her you don’t want her here?”
“Yes!” Eden loved her mother, but she didn’t have much of a backbone when it came to her sisters. “Mom, I can’t do this. Damn it.”
Mila ended her call and walked up the stairs in three-inch heels, a big smile on her bright red lips. “Hey, Eden.”
Eden held the door for her, not bothering to return the smile. “Mila.”
Mila held up a shopping bag. “I bought some new clothes for your little man.”
Born three years apart, Mila and Eden had played together as kids and had gotten along—provided Eden did everything Mila’s way. Things hadn’t changed much since then. Mila was now a mother of two school-aged kids. Her husband, Charlie, worked on an off-shore oil rig in Prudhoe Bay, earning enough money that she was free to spend her days volunteering in the community—and meddling in other people’s lives.
Eden shut the door.
“Is that your helicopter?” Her mother sat on the floor next to Maverick.
“Daddy fwy copta.”
That’s what Eden used to tell Maverick any time they played with these blocks. She closed her eyes, fighting a rush of grief. “I haven’t had a shower today. Can you watch Maverick?”
“Of course!”
Eden walked to the bathroom, locked the door behind her, and turned on the water. Then she undressed, stepped into the spray, and let the tears come.
I can’t do this without you, Justin. It hurts too much. When will it get easier?
She leaned against the wall and wept until the hot water ran out. Only then did she realize that she hadn’t washed. She quickly shampooed and conditioned her hair and washed her face and body, the cold somehow calling her back to herself. Then she turned off the water and dried herself with a warm towel.
A quick glance in the mirror told her she wouldn’t fool anyone. Her mother and Mila would see her red eyes and know she’d been crying. Her mother would understand, but Mila…
