no us anymore, just a me. She wiped a tear away before anyone else could see it. “I’ll get my suitcase and bring it in while y’all get settled.”
“I’ll take care of that for you.” Luke followed her outside and handed her a clean white handkerchief. “How are you holding up?”
She wiped at the tears that had begun a steady flow down her cheeks. “Not so good. I can feel Smokey in the house, but . . .” She stepped up into the motor home and sat down in the passenger seat. “Feeling him here, even imagining him here, isn’t the same.”
Luke knelt in the space between the two seats and wrapped her up in his arms. “I knew it would be tough. I’ve got this hollow space in my chest that’s putting a lump in my throat. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.”
She patted him on the shoulder. “I was so wrapped up in my own feelings, I didn’t think that you’d be grieving, too.”
“We’ve got each other to lean on,” he said as he slid into the driver’s seat.
“Yes, we do.” She handed the handkerchief back to him. “But for now I’ve got to get myself together and be strong for the girls. They’re empty nesters, you know, and that’s every bit as big a grieving process as what we’re going through, plus poor Carmen is dealing with the divorce. Being needed is a big help.”
Luke nodded. “Yes, it is, and we all pretty much need each other in one way or the other, don’t we?”
“That’s what family is all about. And family don’t always mean blood kin.” Tootsie’s mouth turned up in a slight grin. “Don’t ever think that I don’t need every one of y’all to get me through this hard time. Without you four kids, I’d probably go batshit crazy.”
“Aunt Tootsie, there isn’t a single one of us who can lay claim to bein’ a kid,” he chuckled.
“To me, you’ll always be a bunch of kids,” she said. “And I’m grateful for every one of you. Now let’s get my things together and take them inside before the girls come out here in force to see if something’s wrong. Are you going to be okay in this motor home all alone?”
“Hey, I’ll be just fine. Don’t worry about me, Aunt Tootsie. I’ve got the biggest place of all of us, but I do plan on coming in and out the back door and using that bathroom so we don’t have to take this monster thing to a dump site every few days,” he said.
“Good idea. We never lock the doors when we’re out here, so that won’t be a problem.” She twirled her seat around and started toward the back bedroom. “I changed the sheets this morning, so this room is yours until we leave.”
“I can use a twin bed.” He followed her down the narrow hallway.
“Nonsense.” She picked up Smokey’s picture and a small jewelry box from the dresser. “You’ll use this room. You can carry the suitcases into the house for me, and thank you, Luke, for coming out here with me.”
“My broad shoulders are available anytime you need anything,” he told her as he picked up the baggage and started outside.
Carmen was busy hanging her clothing in the antique armoire in the room to the left of the hallway when her phone rang. She saw Eli’s face appear on the screen and left the door hanging open to rush to answer it.
“Hello.” She crossed her fingers like she did when she was a little girl and wanted something badly.
“Have you thought about signing the papers?” His tone left her feeling like she was talking to a complete stranger.
“No, I haven’t, and I’m not going to until we get some couple’s counseling.” She backed up until her legs hit the bed, then sat down.
“It’s too late for that. I didn’t want to tell you this, but it seems to be the only way that you’re going to understand that our marriage is over. I never meant to hurt you. It wasn’t my intention, and Kate and I tried to walk away from the attraction,” Eli said.
“So it is another woman causing all this? Is she aware she’s breaking up a family?” Carmen’s world fractured in front of her. Permanently. Separate households.
The silence was so heavy that it seemed to suck the oxygen right out of the air.