and cheese?”
Kal laughed. “As tempting as that sounds, I think you have enough to handle.”
She laced her arm with his. “You don’t get away that easily. Come with me.”
He thought he’d be in the way, but he had to admit, he was worried about Oliver and wanted to make sure he’d be all right. He was relieved when Hannah dragged him into the house.
When he walked in, Oliver was sitting on the sofa, feet up, his slinged arm propped up on a pillow.
“Grandma made lemonade, Kal,” he said.
Kal went to sit next to Oliver. “That’s awesome. And I hear you’re having mac and cheese for dinner. That’s one of my favorites.”
“Mine, too.”
“I think I’ll go get some lemonade, buddy. I’ll be back.” He went into the kitchen to find Paige and Hannah talking.
“When you called I was so worried,” Paige said. “He’s okay, then?”
Hannah reached out and smoothed her hand over Paige’s arm. “He’s going to be fine, Mom. In a week he’ll get a cast on. Paperwork with instructions are on the table, so you can read everything.”
“Thanks.” Paige looked out into the living room where Oliver’s feet were rocking back and forth to an action scene on the movie he was watching on TV.
“He seems fine, Paige,” Kal said. “Kids break bones. They’re pretty resilient, ya know.”
“Oh, I know. I went through it with Hannah.”
“Yeah, she told me.” He reached up into the cabinet to pull out a glass. Paige filled it with ice and lemonade. “I heard all about the stitches and the concussion, and the broken toe.”
“Did you tell him about the time you nearly cut your finger off when you decided you wanted to ‘help me’ in the kitchen?”
“She did not tell me that.”
Hannah wiggled all ten of her fingers. “As you can see, I have all my digits, and it wasn’t as bad as my mother is about to make it out to be.”
“There was blood everywhere. She sliced her finger cutting a tomato. I couldn’t tell where the tomato was because of all the blood.”
Kal could well imagine, since finger cuts, especially deep ones, tended to bleed a lot.
“Did you get stitches?”
“Two, which were hardly necessary, but Mom panicked.”
Paige lifted her chin. “I never panic. It was a deep cut that needed to be closed.”
Hannah looked over at Kal and shrugged. “I lived.”
He laughed. “Obviously. Were you allowed in the kitchen after that?”
“Not for a very long time,” Paige said.
“Whatever. It was a minor slip, and I’m very good with knives now.”
“Good to know,” Kal said, looking over to see Oliver’s feet relaxed on the reclining sofa. He took his lemonade and strolled into the living room to see Oliver had fallen asleep, his head cranked in what looked like a really uncomfortable position. Kal repositioned him, laying him down so that his arm would still be propped up. Oliver had his knees drawn close like he was cold, so Kal dragged the blanket off the top of the sofa and covered him, then patted his shoulder.
“You’re gonna be fine, buddy,” he whispered.
He grabbed his lemonade off the coffee table and headed back into the kitchen to find both Hannah and Paige staring at him.
“What? He fell asleep and his positioning was awkward.”
“It was very sweet of you, Kal,” Paige said.
Hannah looked like she might cry, tears glistening in her eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
She headed down the hall, went to her room and shut the door.
“Did I do something wrong?” he asked Paige.
Paige grasped his arm. “No, honey. You did everything right. She’s done it all by herself for so long that even the smallest things that you do to help are a big deal to her. Thank you for that.”
“I’m glad I was around to help today.”
She squeezed his arm. “I am, too.”
Hannah came down the hall. “Sorry, I had something in my eye. Allergies, probably.”
She looked like she’d been crying. After the day she’d had, no one could blame her. As strong as his mom was, he also knew how much she cared about all of them. She’d held it together every time one of them got hurt. And then she’d go to her room, and when she came out later, her eyes would be puffy.
You could be a strong woman and still cry.
He went over to her and folded her in his arms.
“I’m okay, Kal,” she said, but she didn’t pull away.
“I know you are. I also know that’s your baby asleep on the sofa, and he fell and