JESSE CURLED A FOOT UNDER HER and gave a little push off the floor with her toe to send her rocking chair into a gentle, soothing motion. Tucking her other foot against the rung of the chair, she sipped her coffee and looked at the view out across her lawn and down to the swimming pond. It was a cool morning, but she liked these moments of quiet before the day really started.
She watched a pair of Canada geese fly by and smiled at their distinctive, obnoxious honking. A frog croaked and a hawk soared and circled overhead. She loved her big wrap-around porch—it had been the reason they’d bought this house. Ten years ago, she and Mark had come to this piece of property and seen not much else other than potential. An old, dilapidated farmhouse, a pond that was overgrown, and fields that hadn’t been sown in years. The original part of the house had been built in the late 1800s, making it about a hundred years younger than most of the other farmhouses in the area. Its age, and hence its architectural style, also made it less appealing to the weekenders who seemed to only want houses in the Greek revival style indicative of the time when the area was full of revolutionaries and the country was first being formed. Jesse loved both styles of houses but because there wasn’t a demand for homes in this particular style—not to mention in the condition it had been in when they came upon it—she and Mark had been able to buy it for a song. And over the years they’d refurbished, rehabilitated, and cleaned things up.
And still, all these years later, her favorite simple pleasure was sitting on her wrap-around porch watching the world go by at a snail’s pace.
Pushing off with her toe again, she heard the porch door open.
“Mom?”
Her older son came out with his own cup of coffee. His hair was sticking up with a severe case of morning bedhead and he was dressed in his pajama bottoms and no top, the chill of the morning seeming to have no effect on him.
“Hi, honey. You’re up early.”
He took a seat and a sip. “It’s almost nine, not that early.”
“For a Saturday?” She arched a teasing brow at him.
“Okay,” he smiled back. “It’s a little early. But I promised Allie I’d come down and help decorate for prom tonight.”
“Are you all ready? You have everything you need?” she asked. Looking at Matt, it was hard to believe he was getting ready to attend his last high school formal. It felt like only days ago that he’d been struggling with the question of whether or not to ask a girl to his first formal.
Matt nodded in response to her question. “Thanks for arranging the car tonight. Allie and I aren’t going to do anything crazy, you know,” he said, referring to his date.
She smiled at that. Matt was not a crazy kid, probably more responsible than he should be, and she had little doubt this stemmed from the death of his father.
“I know, but I just thought it might be nice to be driven around a bit, and you’re welcome. Are you still doubling with Danielle and Todd?”
Matt shook his head. “No, Allie wanted to go with Brittney and Jay so we’ll be picking them up on the way.”
“That’s too bad.” Matt and Danielle had been close friends, practically since birth. ”But I suppose you’ll see them there,” she commented.
He grinned. “We have less than a hundred and fifty kids going, I think it’s a pretty good bet we’ll see each other.”
They sat in silence for several minutes. Jesse sensed her son had more to say to her but something was holding him back. After years of being his mom, she knew the best thing to do was to wait and let him come to her.
Finally, he spoke. “Mom, Danielle and I would like to go see Aaron. We called down to the hospital yesterday and they said visiting hours were today from two to four. Do you think we should?”
Jesse considered this. Matt and Aaron weren’t the best of friends, not really friends at all but more like friendly acquaintances. And Aaron, a young man, might not want to be seen in the state he was in. She knew what Aaron had sacrificed and why, and she had told Matt some of it, the parts she thought David wouldn’t mind her sharing. But she didn’t know if Aaron saw it the same way—saw his own sacrifice. She didn’t know if Aaron would want to be reminded that he wasn’t going to prom; that he wasn’t active and doing all the things the other young men in his class were doing. The male ego was a fragile thing.
On the other hand, she’d been his only visitor. David and Abigail had seen him, of course, but she’d been the only one who’d stopped by to visit without having a professional reason.
“Why don’t I ask him on Monday and let you know?” she offered.
“We’d kind of like to go today, if we can. It’s been long enough that he’s been alone.”
Her son’s insight caught her off guard and really, what could she say to that? Still, she wanted to ask Aaron first.
“Dr. Martinez is running rounds this morning. Why don’t I call her? She can ask him and then let Danielle know?”
Matt let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mom. I can’t imagine what his life has been like these past few years.”
“No child should.”
“And it’s not over for him, is it?”
“Unfortunately, not by a long shot. He has a long recovery ahead of him.”
Together, they pondered this for a moment, before Matt stood.
“Thanks for checking in with Dr. Martinez for us. I’ll let you know if we end up going down.”
“Please do, and keep me updated on what’s going on today. I have some errands to run.” She glanced at her watch. “One of which I’m running late for already, but other than that, I’ll be around here.”
He nodded and headed back into the house as she rose from her seat. She wasn’t quite ready to start the day, but she’d promised Julie she’d be at the quilt shop at ten and if she was going to call Abigail before that, as well as shower and get dressed, she needed to get a move on.
***
Jesse looked at the clock on her dash as she pulled into a spot across the street from Julie’s Spin-A-Yarn shop. She wasn’t too late, just about fifteen minutes. She spotted Julie out front chatting with Jason, the owner of the local health food store, and waved. Main Street was still quiet this time of day, except for those partaking of breakfast at Frank’s Fed Up and Fulfilled Café, and both proprietors looked up and waved back as she got out of her car.
She smiled and was just sliding her keys into her purse when a deep sound reverberated around her. In a flash, Jesse felt like she was being swallowed, like a weight was pressing against her entire body, stealing the air from her lungs, making it impossible to scream. A cacophony of sounds assaulted her ears, then suddenly everything seemed to slow down. Somehow, the noises that had seemed so angry before became dampened and muffled. With no time to comprehend or react to what was happening, she watched as the windows of Spin-A-Yarn erupted outward, exploding onto the street toward her.