Some Unincorporated Place Between Fallon and Norseton
Jody
“Cut me some slack. This is the first time I’ve had to do this on my own.”
If Shea hadn’t looked so shame-faced, Jody would have yelled at her. Her hypnosis erasure techniques were the mental equivalent of cleaning a toy car with a power washer.
Lora was curled up in a ball on a dingy motel room chair, sobbing piteously. He’d only seen her cry twice in his life. The first had been when she was a child and he’d pelted her with water balloons because she’d been ignoring him. The second had been barely a week prior when she’d been overwhelmed in the library. He’d been hoping that the third would be for the birth of their child, but nothing about being Afótama was predictable. He knew better.
He wanted to go to her and pull her into his arms, but not at the risk of undoing the work Shea had done. She’d hurried all the way out there to meet them so Lora could start to recover away from home, and the trip hadn’t been the slightest bit convenient. She’d had to drive the entire way.
“How does this usually go?” Jody asked her.
“Usually, they’re so tired afterward that they fall asleep for a bit.”
Lora was already nodding off. Her eyelids were heavy and her sobs were coming out slower.
“How will we know it worked?” Colt was standing half in the motel room and half on the walkway. Dahlia was in her car rooting around for her vanished cell phone. Colt insisted on keeping an eye on her, though Jody doubted she needed him to. He had a hunch that the woman, scattered as she was, had never lost a fight. She couldn’t be a Dahl if she didn’t have that wild edge.
Shea knelt in front of Lora and gave her knee a squeeze. “Say those words, Jody.”
“What words? We got separated?”
“Yeah.”
No response from Lora. Just a sniffle.
Shea handed her the tissue box.
Jody said it again.
Lora blew her nose. “Now you’re just picking on me, Joseph.”
“Gods.” Jody’s lungs contracted with relief. More than anything, he wanted to flop onto a bed with her to connect and re-bond for as long as they needed. Things were going to be different. They were going to be public and with a child on the way, she’d have to get her grips with that soon. He wanted to go home and do whatever he had to so they could finally have some peace.
Even if that meant he’d have to take a page out of his aunt’s book of practicality.
As soon as he was certain Lora was safe and comfortable back in Norseton, he was going to find Anders. He was going to snatch back Lora’s past from him because she deserved to know who her mother was.
And maybe when he was done, he wouldn’t wrap a lightning bolt around the man just to watch him sizzle.
Anders would deserve it, though, if Jody did.