“You’re good. Cornbread still has about ten minutes,” Karen said.
Hunt gave her a thumbs-up and hastened his steps. He got out of his dirty clothes and washed up. It occurred to him how glad he’d be to get home and back to the wardrobe in his closet. His choices of clothing here were limited to what he’d brought with him. He dressed in clean ones and went back to the kitchen and sat down beside Ava.
“How are you feeling, honey?”
“I’m feeling good. I slept a lot today, as you know. I missed seeing you when you came by at noon because I was still sleeping then, too.”
“That’s what you needed to be doing,” he said.
“How did it go at the house today?” she asked.
“Good. A lot done. We’re almost finished, and the auction is set for a week from today. My boss is being understanding, but he sent me a text today asking when I thought I’d be returning. I told him I’d be able to let him know in a few days.”
“I won’t be a holdup,” Ava said. “I’ll be back to my normal self within a couple more days.”
“We’re not putting you on a deadline, and we’re not leaving Blessings until you are a hundred percent.”
Ava nodded. “Mom and Dad made a very generous offer that will take the pressure off of me and what to do with my house.”
“What do you want to do with it?” Hunt asked.
“Sell it. Mom and Dad offered to handle that for me.”
“But what about your things? You don’t have to give up the furniture you want to keep, or anything else you want to take. I don’t have an attachment to anything in my house. It’s just stuff I picked up here and there. Nothing matches or coordinates.”
She laughed. “None of that matters, but we’ll fix it together, okay?”
Hunt stroked the side of her cheek. “Together sounds perfect. So, how about we get a moving van to load up what you want to keep, toss my Harley in with it, and they can bring it to us. In the meantime, we’ll drive your car to Houston. If I’d known I was going to be bringing back the love of my life, I would have driven the Hummer, not the Harley.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “A Hummer? What else do you have that I don’t know about?”
“A house with a pool?” he said.
“Oh my gosh! Jackpot, Hunter Knox! You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Ava said.
“Maybe,” he said, and then grinned.
“Cornbread’s done,” Karen said. “Bring your bowl. I’ll fill it with chili from the stove. Everything else will be on the table.”
Ava started to get up, when Hunt stopped her with a touch.
“You sit. I’ll get yours.”
Ava sank back into the chair and waited, thinking how close she’d come to losing all this.
They sat down together, and as they ate, plans for their future continued to unfold.
Later that night, after her parents were gone and Hunt was stretched out in bed beside her watching TV, he kept thinking of taking Ava up in one of the choppers, wondering if she’d love it as much as he did or if she would freak. Only time would tell.
When she finally fell asleep, he eased his arm out from beneath her neck and pulled up the covers. It hurt her to lie on her side, so until the fracture in her sternum healed, she would be sleeping on her back. He was afraid to get too close for fear he’d bump something and hurt her, but she didn’t want him to sleep anywhere else. So he lay on his side with a pillow between them, making quiet promises to God that she would never hear.
All Hunt wanted in life was to keep her safe, but he was going to need help making that happen. Every pilot he had ever known claimed God for a copilot, so he was talking to The Man about watching out for Ava when he could not.
Chapter 20
The silent auction and dance at the country club netted a little over four thousand dollars for Donna Hollis. The autopsy on Arnold’s body had finally been released. Chief Pittman called her to let Donna know that he died from a broken neck, likely from a fall considering where they’d found the body, and that he would not have been alive by the time he was burned.
Of all the things that Donna had been going through, knowing her Arnie hadn’t suffered in that inferno was the gift. And once the coroner released the body, the funeral home in Blessings picked it up. His cremation was scheduled, but it would be some days before ashes would be available. So Donna had taken Ruby Butterman’s advice and asked them to ship the ashes to her new address. They readily agreed, again extending their sympathies for her loss.
Now all Donna needed was get home. Her little yard sale had netted a few hundred dollars to add to the account. The hardest things she’d had to part with were Arnold’s clothes. But she kept telling herself that it would be better that they went to someone who needed them rather than turning them into a shrine.
Two days ago, she’d gotten a phone call from Ruby, asking when she wanted to move.
“I’d go today if I could,” Donna said. “In reality, it’ll take me a couple more days to get my stuff packed up.”
“Then be ready,” Ruby said.
“But how will—”
“Just be ready,” Ruby said. “All will be revealed.”
And so Donna packed up everything she was going to take, and now here it was, two days later, and she was sitting in her kitchen among boxes and bags when someone knocked.
Was this it what Ruby told her to be ready for? But who was going to take her home, and how was it going to happen? She opened the door, took one look at the couple on the doorstep, and burst into tears.
Her sister, Joy, rushed in, grabbed her sister into her arms and began hugging her, while her husband, Burl, stood on the threshold, grinning from ear to ear.
“Come in, come in!” Donna cried, and grabbed him by the hand. “What on earth? How did you—”
Burl pulled her to the doorway and pointed at the big U-Haul truck sitting in the drive.
“Did you drive this all the way from Bethlehem?” Donna asked.
“Nope,” Burl said. “Somebody sent us plane tickets to Savannah. We flew in last night, stayed in a motel, and rented this here truck this morning. We’re ready to load you up and take you home.”
“I can pay you back for the truck,” Donna said. “My friends here raised some money to help get me home.”
“Well, some of those same friends must be responsible for the truck rental, too, because the contract for the truck rental was in the FedEx packet with the tickets. All we had to do was present the contract and my driver’s license and car insurance and we were good to go. They even gave us directions on how to get to Blessings from the U-Haul place. I was supposed to tell you to call Dub when we arrived so he and the boys can move your stuff into the truck. So, who’s Dub?”