When He Returns

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

  “I’m fine. Just stayed up a little later than I should have last night.” He gave her a quick smile. “Nothing a little caffeine can’t fix.”

  “I know all about that,” Sierra said. “I slept okay last night and still needed a large coffee to get me going this morning.”

  “Are we making a stop at Tim’s on the way?” he asked as she started up her car.

  “If you’d like. I’m sure I could be convinced.”

  “Let me text and see if anyone at the hospital needs food or drink,” Dalton said.

  Sierra backed out of her parking spot. “I think it’s just Danica and Makayla there.”

  “Okay. I’ll text Dani.”

  By the time Sierra pulled up at the drive-thru at the nearby Tim Hortons, he had a coffee and donut order from Danica. As Dalton leaned toward Sierra to pull his wallet from his back pocket, he got a whiff of her scent. He was pretty sure she didn’t wear perfume since she worked in the hospital where scents could be a problem, but there was a light scent around her that must have come from her shampoo or body wash.

  “Here.” He held out his debit card. “Use this.”

  Though she gave him a look, she took the card without argument, and when they reached the window, she used it to pay for their order. After handing the card back to him, she reached for the tray of coffee cups the person at the window held out for her.

  It took a minute to get the food situated, but soon enough, they were on their way to the hospital again. The drive was quiet except for the music playing softly from the radio. Normally, Dalton tried to make conversation, but he’d talked himself out at the session with his counselor that morning. Sierra didn’t seem inclined to talk either, but thankfully, the silence between them didn’t feel strained or awkward.

  After she’d parked, Sierra took the donuts from him and got out while he carefully balanced the tray of coffee cups as he climbed from the passenger side. It didn’t take them long to get to the waiting room where they found Danica, Tami, and Makayla sitting together.

  The day dragged for Dalton. Now that the worry had abated somewhat for Ethan—his memory was coming back, and there didn’t appear to be any major issues with his brain—Dalton found himself needing a distraction beyond Danica and Sierra talking about people he didn’t know.

  He was tired, but more than that, he was confused. Though he’d spoken at length with the counselor about everything else, talking about his feelings for Sierra felt too…new. And there was a part of him that was worried that the counselor would discourage him from considering any sort of relationship this soon out of rehab.

  And yet another part of him was worried that they’d see it as a good thing. Because if they did, then he’d have to figure out how to talk to Sierra about his feelings for her. As a teen, he’d had no problem sharing his feelings—especially with his family. In fact, most of them would have said he tended to overshare.

  However, in the years since he’d left home, he’d learned that most people didn’t really care about other people’s feelings. Or at least they hadn’t with the ones he’d come in contact with. Very quickly, he’d figured out that he might as well just keep his feelings to himself.

  He’d done more talking about how he was feeling in the past six months than he had in all those years he’d been away combined. Sometimes he’d talk with Jesse, but he had been rather closed-mouthed about his feelings too. Although with him, it seemed more like that was his personality rather than the way he’d become over time, like Dalton.

  The only place he’d ever spilled any of his feelings were in his notebooks and sometimes, his songs.

  “I’m going to go get some coffee,” Dalton said, pushing to his feet. He was done trying to think through his feelings.

  “More?” Danica asked, a frown on her face. “You’ve had a lot of coffee today.”

  “I was up late last night and early this morning, so it’s kind of what’s keeping me going.” He arched a brow at her. “Do you want some too or not?”

  Danica sighed. “Fine. But just a medium one this time.”

  “How about you?” Dalton asked as he turned to Sierra. “Coffee? Hot chocolate?”

  “I’m fine,” she said, lifting the bottle of water she held. “But Makayla might like another one.”

  “Okay. I’ll be back in a bit.”

  His phone chirped a text alert as he walked away from the waiting room. He pulled it out and saw a message from Jesse on the screen.

  Jesse: Call me when u have a min.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Dalton let out a breath as he followed the now well-known path to the closest Tim’s in the hospital. He had a minute, but did he really want to talk to Jesse? His counselor would have said that he needed to. After all, he’d been upset that Jesse hadn’t talked to him before now, so if he wanted to keep lines of communication between them open, he had to talk if Jesse wanted to.

  After tapping his contact information, Dalton lifted the phone to his ear and waited for his friend to answer.

  “Yo, dude,” Jesse said. “Thanks for calling me back so quickly.”

  “No problem. I was just on my way to grab some coffee. What’s up?”

  “I uh, just wanted to check back in after our convo yesterday.”

  Dalton could tell that that was actually probably the last thing Jesse wanted to do. “It’s all good, man. No worries.”

  Jesse let out a heavy sigh. “No, it’s not all good. Like, I knew I shoulda talked with you about it, but I just wasn’t sure how it was going to go down.” He uttered an expletive. “Shoulda known the paps would break it before I was ready.”

  “They always did have the worst timing.”

  “You know it,” Jesse agreed. “But still, I shoulda been talking to you about it all along.”

  “So have you heard back from the band?”

  “Last we chatted, they said the job was basically mine. They’re desperate for someone because their tour starts in a month.”

  Dalton could imagine the stress the band must have been under to have to replace a member so close to a major tour. They would be lucky to have Jesse because he was a whiz at picking up music.

  “I want to come see you before I leave.”

  Dalton stopped walking then moved over to the side, so he wasn’t in anyone’s way. “Really?”

  “Yeah, man. It’s been forever, and I need to see for myself that you’re okay before I head off around the world for a few months.”

  “I’m fine,” Dalton told him. “But if you insist on coming, I’m not going to stop you. On one condition.”

  There was a beat of silence before Jesse said, “What’s the condition?”

  “You gotta lose the swear words, buddy. I can’t introduce you to my family with you swearing like you do.”

  Jesse laughed. “Fine. I’ll try my best to kill the swearing, but you know it slips out.”

  Dalton did know. He’d learned to tune it out over the years, and thankfully, it wasn’t a habit he’d picked up except for the occasional slip. Maybe it was because he’d made it through his teen years without swearing that he just hadn’t felt the need to add those words to his vocabulary as an adult.

  “You gotta try super hard,” Dalton said as he started walking again. “You remember what I’ve told you about my family.”

  “Yeah. I remember. It’s fine. I’ll be charming and keep my swearing in check.”

  Dalton was sure he’d try, but the man’s language had always been colorful, and he doubted he’d be able to completely rein it in. He’d just have to make sure that he limited Jesse’s time with the women in the family. The men—especially the ones who worked with the construction side of the business—likely heard more swearing, but he’d be the first to admit that they, as a family, had led a rather sheltered existence. From Christian schools to a family business, most of them hadn’t been immersed in the secular world the way he had.

  “So when do you plan to come?” Dalton asked as he j
oined the line at the counter of the Tim Hortons.

  “My flight arrives tomorrow afternoon.”

  “What?” Though really, it shouldn’t surprise him. When Jesse made up his mind about something, he didn’t sit around.

  “I don’t have much time before I have to meet up with the band in LA, so I figured I’d better come sooner rather than later. You have room for me? Or should I book a hotel?”

  “No need for that. I have a spare bedroom.” He didn’t have a bed in it, but hopefully, he could get one of his brothers who owned a truck to take him out to grab some bedroom furniture that evening or the next morning.

  By the time it was Dalton’s turn to order, he’d finished his conversation with Jesse. His text alert went as he paid for the coffee and donuts, but he didn’t check it right away as he knew it was Jesse sending his flight information.

  Strangely enough, the conversation with Jesse had acted like a shot of adrenalin. As he walked back to the waiting room, Dalton felt more energized than when he’d left, and he hadn’t even had a sip of his coffee yet.

  “Thank you,” Makayla said when he handed her the coffee he’d gotten for her. “I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this tired in my life, and that includes the baby years.”

  “Are you just not sleeping well?” Danica asked.

  Makayla shrugged as she lifted her cup to take a drink. “The thing is, Ethan is my stabilizer, if you will. Just having him near me calms me down and helps me to relax. He’s had that effect on me from the very beginning of our relationship. Being without him…”

  Her gaze dropped as her words trailed off. Danica and Sierra pressed close to Makayla, each wrapping an arm around her. Dalton understood completely how Makayla felt. It was how he was starting to feel about Sierra.

  “I find it hard to sleep without him next to me, and that’s not even including how worried I am about him. So yeah, I’m uptight and can’t relax, which isn’t conducive to getting a good night’s sleep.”

  “We’ll keep praying for you about that,” Danica said. “Hopefully now that he’s awake and can talk to you, you’ll be able to relax more.”

  “If only they had double hospital beds,” Sierra said with a soft laugh.

  “If only,” Makayla agreed.

  Dalton continued to consider Makayla’s words about her and Ethan’s relationship. They’d been married for over a decade and yet still had such a strong, close relationship. Each of his siblings seemed to have that. He was now the lone single person in the family.

  Thankfully, no one was asking him when he was going to settle down. He had no answer for that, though part of him felt more settled now than he had so far in his adult life. Of course, he was also unemployed, so he wasn’t as settled as he felt.

  They stayed at the hospital until late afternoon then, after Sierra had one more visit with Ethan, they left Danica and Makayla there and headed home.

  “I feel like I should stay longer,” Sierra said as they walked toward the automatic doors leading out of the hospital.

  “Do you want to stay?” Dalton asked. “You don’t need to leave on my behalf. I can always just grab a cab.”

  “No. It’s fine. I wish that my staying would alleviate the stress Makayla is under, but it wouldn’t. All it means is that she’d feel like she had to give up some of her time with Ethan so I could see him too.”

  “I’m sure she doesn’t mind,” Dalton told her.

  “I don’t know. If it were my husband, I’d have a hard time leaving his side when my time was up, let alone giving up a visit entirely.”

  The thought of Sierra with a husband did funny things to Dalton. It was odd because getting married and having a family had never been high on his list of things to do. Girls had been so far off his radar in high school, they might as well have been on a different planet.

  He hadn’t had a relationship as an adult, but he had been with a few women. It wasn’t something he was proud of, especially now that he was out from under the fog of drugs and back in the environment where he’d grown up.

  “Did your visit with him go okay?” Dalton asked once they were in the car headed home.

  “Well, it was the best visit yet,” she said. “But it’s still hard to see him like that. I’m not sure when Makayla plans to bring the kids to visit him, but I hope it’s not until the bruising on his face has faded a bit more. I think that’s the hardest part. I know he has injuries over the rest of his body but seeing his face so bruised and swollen is rough.”

  “It is getting better though, right?”

  Sierra nodded. “The swelling has gone down a lot, so that’s good, but the bruises still look kind of yucky. You know the stages they go through.”

  “And he’s communicating well?”

  “Pretty well,” Sierra said. “All things considered. He is searching for words sometimes and still doesn’t have a clear memory of what happened or even the day leading up to the roof collapsing. His last memory so far was a couple of days before the accident. Considering it could have been much worse, losing a couple of days from his memory isn’t that bad.”

  “And yet you and Makayla still seemed worried.”

  Sierra sighed. “Yeah. The reality is that he’s still in rough shape. His brain is not completely healed, so things could still go wrong, plus he has a lot of internal injuries that still need to heal. I’m sure Makayla’s like me. You want to be hopeful, but reality is always right there, too.”

  Dalton could hear the weariness in Sierra’s voice and wished there was something more he could do to help her. To support her. “Do you want to stop for supper?”

  She glanced over at him. “To be honest, I’d rather not, but maybe we could get take-out and eat at home?”

  Dalton found he liked that suggestion even better. He didn’t know if she would want to eat with him or not, but he hoped she would.

  “Oh, I need to see if one of my truck-owning brothers is available to help me out tonight.”

  “Decided you want to learn to drive a truck?” Sierra asked.

  “Ha. I’m barely able to drive a car. I think a truck would just be asking for trouble,” Dalton said with a laugh. “No, I need a truck because I have a guest arriving tomorrow, and my guest room has no bed. I’m hoping someone can help me get one.”

  “Oh. Well, normally I would have suggested starting with Mitch, but obviously, he’s still in no shape to drive. Gabe would probably take you if you don’t mind a million questions and just as many opinions.”

  “Yeah, well, I think I’ll probably have to go with Gabe.”

  “You could try Marc. He has a truck.”

  Dalton still wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with their one non-family neighbor. “I’ll see what Gabe’s up to then go from there.”

  “So who’s your company?” Sierra asked then quickly added. “Not that you have to tell me.”

  “It’s fine. I talked to Jesse earlier, and he informed me he was arriving tomorrow afternoon for a visit.”

  “Wow. Well, that’s nice.” She looked over at him. “Right?”

  “Yes. It’s nice.”

  “Okay, good. I look forward to meeting him.”

  “Just remember that he can be a little…”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ve read his social media posts for years. I know he loves his swear words.”

  “I told him to tone it down, and he said he would, so we’ll see.”

  “It’ll be fine. We all know that he comes from a different way of life, one where language like that isn’t unusual.”

  Dalton sighed. “I know. I just want people to like him. He’s the only reason I survived those years with the band.”

  “Your parents know that, and I think they’ll be nothing but grateful and appreciative of all he did for you.”

  Dalton hoped she was right, but he still worried. He wanted his family to think well of the man who had been his best friend for so many years. For all his rough edges, he had a good heart.

>   After a brief discussion, they decided to grab some pizza and wings. Dalton wasn’t sure it was a good idea to input the number for the place in his phone, but it made it easier right then to place their order.

  It wasn’t quite ready by the time they got to the restaurant, so they sat in the car for a few minutes while they waited.

  “How long is Jesse staying?”

  Dalton frowned. “I didn’t actually ask him, to be honest. I assume probably a day or two.”

  “At least he knows more people than just you. I’m sure JD will be happy to see him again.”

  Dalton sometimes forgot that his band life had intersected with his family life months ago. He had no idea if JD and Jesse still kept in contact. He wouldn’t put it past Jesse to ask JD for updates on him. Though the idea annoyed him, he couldn’t really blame him.

  “Should I have an apartment block dinner while he’s here?”

  “What? You don’t want to have the whole clan over?”

  “Haha. No. You and Danica would have to both open up your apartments to contain the overflow. Plus, that would just be overwhelming.”

  “True. Are you going to invite Marc?”

  “Also, no.”

  Sierra shot him a look. “You haven’t warmed up to him yet, have you?”

  “It’s not that easy for me,” Dalton said because he knew she wasn’t really expecting a yes or no response. “And even if I’ve become a little less recognizable because of the changes to my appearance, Jesse is still…Jesse. Between that and my name, the odds of Marc recognizing us, if he’s a rock fan, are fairly high. I don’t know him well enough to trust him. Sorry.”

  “You don’t need to apologize. I understand.”

  Dalton did feel a bit bad on those days when he invited everyone else in the apartment block over, except Marc. Of course, that hadn’t happened in the last several days. “I know the family trusts him because he works with them, but right now, I have a feeling you could make some pretty good money on revealing where I am.”

  Sierra frowned at him. “I would never do that.”

  “I know that,” Dalton said with a laugh. “I meant you in the general sense.”