AD - All We Are Series

Chapter Five

August 2017

Dave sighed, resting his head against the palm of his hand. His hat was thrown across the room, brim up on the floor. The coffee table was pulled up next to him on the sofa. Papers were scattered across it. In the distance, I could hear Kaleb and Kory playing outside.

"What are you working on?" I questioned from my spot at the door frame, making Dave jump.

"Didn't hear you come in," he said gruffly.

"I left the boys playing outside. They're playing with the neighbors - Lizzy and Franklin? I think they're experimenting with her skateboard."

"Ah," Dave nodded.

"So what's all this?" I asked, gesturing at the table as I walked further into the room and sat down across from him.

"Legal paperwork," Dave sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

"For Kory?"

"Yeah."

We were silent for a moment. I wanted to reach around and give him a hug, or comfort him in some other manner, but I knew Dave wasn't always the touchy-feely type. Finally I decided to simply move seats and sit next to him.

"What can I do to help?" I asked.

"Nothing much for right now."

I nodded, feeling a bit helpless. Dave returned to some form or another. Apparently Andy never made a will, something I silently cursed him for doing. Even though Dave seemed like the obvious choice, as even the police officer agreed, some lawyer wanted Dave to try to find Kory's mother. It was stupid, in my opinion. I wish there was something I could do to help Dave.

I liked to help people.

It probably came from raising Kaleb and practically raising Margaret, too. Will was fifteen when pop died, but Margaret was only ten, almost eleven. By the time mom was gone, Will was 21, and able to drink away some of the pain. I offered my couch to his drunken state many times the month after her death. Margaret, in the midst of her teenage angst, didn't want to talk to me. She stayed away, with our aunt a lot, looking for a motherly figure that I couldn't provide. Don and I were married a few years at that point. I had him and Kaleb to watch out for. Will was old enough that he understood, but Margaret not so much. She resented me, and although we made up over time, it's never quite been the same as before.

"Vel? Velisa?" Dave called out, shaking me out of my brooding.

"Sorry, yes?"

"I need to ask you something."

"What is it?" I asked worriedly. Dave looked serious all of the sudden, even more so since his brother died. It seemed like he hadn't smiled in a month, and he hadn't talked much in the first week or two. Simple 'yes's or 'no's were his answers most of the time. For him to be more solemn than before, worried me.

"About Kory. If anything happens to me..." Dave trailed off, looking down.

I frowned. "Dave, nothing is going to happen to you!"

"You don't know that," he said, his voice cracking a little.

"Oh Dave," I sighed, scooting closer and wrapping an arm around him. Dave never showed emotion, and on one of those rare times that he did, I'd be damned if I didn't comfort him.

"Just in case..." he sighed, placing a hand over his eyes. I didn't comment on the tear I saw rolling down his cheek, nor the ones that followed it.

"I'll take care of him," I promised.

After that, it seemed like a weight had been taken off of Dave's chest. He had a plan for Kory, though the paperwork was obnoxious, and he was had an emergency plan, God forbid we needed to use it.

Kory and Kaleb seemed blissfully unaware of mine and Dave's conversation, which I was immensely grateful for.

I walked up the stairs in Dave's house. Since Andy's death, Kaleb and I had unofficially moved in. Kaleb stayed on a mattress in Kory's room. I "stayed" in the guest bedroom down the hall, though many nights I cuddled with Dave after a nightmare. He never wanted to worry the kids, and I was the only one who heard him cry out at night. He never spoke about them to me. I wanted to encourage him to see a therapist or something, but I didn't want him to shut down on me. Frankly, I was a little unsure of what I should do. Dave recently had, understandably, not wanted to do anything couple-y such as a date night or movie. I felt bad for wishing we could at least talk, but I knew he had his ways, even if I didn't understand him.

It was the first time he had lost someone close to him, after all. His parents were quite happy traveling the world, unlike mine. He hadn't lost a husband like I had. It was all very new to him. I just wished I could support him more.

I passed by Kory's door. I went to knock on it when I heard voices.

"I- I miss him," Kory sobbed quietly. A little sniffle let out, and I heard some rustling and then a blowing of a nose.

"I know, it's really hard. My dad died when I was 9," Kaleb responded sympathetically. "It's really hard at first, but eventually the pain goes away."

"He died right a- after my thirteenth b- birthday," Kory wailed.

"It's not your fault."

"W- what? How did you know?"

"I thought the same thing. I thought maybe my dad hated me, to go overseas and fight a war instead of being at home with me. All I saw was that he just left us. I thought maybe he didn't want me."

"It was a car accident."

"He didn't leave you on purpose."

"Maybe if he wasn't coming to get me..."

"No!" Kaleb said forcefully, making me jump and draw back from the door a bit. "You can't think like that! It was an accident!"

"But if I wasn't there he wouldn't have gone down that road at that time and gotten hit."

"He could've still been going to visit Dave, and he could've just as easily gotten hit by that stupid fucker of a driver," Kaleb argued. Being almost fifteen, his language had colored significantly.

"Yeah," Kory sighed.

"It's not your fault," Kaleb said a bit more gently. "Come on, we should go to sleep now. We have school in just a few weeks!"

"Great, school," Kory groaned, and they both laughed.

The next morning, I pulled Kaleb aside as Dave and Kory ate breakfast in the kitchen.

"Are you okay? How's Kory doing?"

"I'm okay, ma. Kory's, well, he's in for a rough bit. But he's got me!" Kaleb grinned cheekily.

"Just don't get him into trouble," I warned.

"When have I ever done that?" Kaleb asked innocently, making me roll my eyes.

"Flooding the bathroom, nearly getting suspended from pulling a fire alarm, almost killing the pet rats in your biology teacher's classroom... need I go on?" I raised an eyebrow at him, pulling my "mommy stare".

"Those were all accidents!" Kaleb protested.

"Accidents?"

"Okay, maybe not the fire alarm... I didn't know it was going to dump gallons of water! I thought the sprinklers were supposed to wait for smoke or flames or heat or something."

"It was the chemistry section, I suppose they planned for the worst-case scenario of teenage boys playing with chemicals. Which, knowing you and your friends, was probably a good idea. Well, the only reason you got off with just detention was because you claimed you accidentally ran into the fire alarm and they didn't have any cameras in the building."

"They can't prove anything with those shitty cameras," Kaleb grinned evilly.

"Kaleb! Language!" I scolded gently, making him roll his eyes.

"Whatever, mom."

"Don't disrespect me either!" I jokingly ruffled his hair.

"No! No the hair! Kory, save me!" He yelled and ran into the kitchen.