Page 9 of From the Ashes

“Hello?”

We both stop, me with my hand halfway to my mouth as we look around. We’re almost to our cars but the person who spoke is hovering by the wide entrance to the currently pretty empty house. Nancy, our administrator, is manning the fort, along with Smokey the cat. But a sense of duty draws me back to see who’s come to visit the station. I can feel Yara following just behind me.

They’re silhouetted by the morning sunlight, but I can tell it’s an adult and two children. Before I can even clearly see their faces, I have an inkling as to who it could be.

“Nevaeh?” I say as I approach.

The little girl’s face lights up like Christmas and she bursts into motion, throwing herself into my arms and knocking the cookie clean out of my hand.

“Sweetie, be careful!” her mom cries, but I shake my head as I squeeze Nevaeh tight, looking over her shoulder.

“It’s quite all right. We have plenty.”

“I hoped you’d both be here!” Nevaeh cries. She lets go of me and then launches herself at Yara who’s slightly more prepared than I was for a hug and manages to keep a hold of her box of spare cookies.

“You’re looking good!” she tells Nevaeh, and she’s right. You’d never know that this little thing had almost drowned only four days ago.

“I’ve been taking care of her,” her younger brother, Dashel, announces proudly.

“I bet you have,” Yara says sincerely as she and I both stand back up. Mrs. Adams has her own Tupperware box gripped in her hands. She looks a little tearful, but she smiles at us as she holds it out for us.

“The kids baked you cupcakes,” she tells us. “To say thank you. I’m not sure there are enough cupcakes in the world to thank you enough for what you did, but still…”

She sniffs and my heart pangs as I take the box with genuine gratitude. “That’s very kind of you, but you really didn’t have to.”

“It was fun!” Dashel cries.

“They’re rainbows,” Nevaeh adds as if this is very important information. I happen to think she’s right.

“Is that true?” I say with raised eyebrows.

She nods. “My best friend Rebecca Quick’s daddy works here, and she said that the One-Thirteen would like rainbows better than unicorns or flowers.”

“Your best friend is Anton Quick’s daughter?” I say in disbelief, glancing at Mrs. Adams as I peel back the box lid. Inside there are cupcakes with various different colored frosting and sprinkles, but each one has a little sugar rainbow decoration as well. My heart melts.

“It seemed like fate that you guys are the one who came to the beach,” Mrs. Adams says with a happy shrug.

“I’d say,” Yara agrees. “Is that how you knew how to find us here?”

Nevaeh nods, but then she nibbles on her thumbnail. “The cupcakes are for the other nice man, too. But we didn’t know how to find him.”

I freeze, trying not to let my surprise show on my face. Of course she’d want to thank the person who literally dragged her from the ocean as well.

How would she be expected to know the guy is my ex?

“Oh, I’m sure he knows how grateful you are—” I start to say.

But Yara talks over me.

“Del knows him,” she says brightly.

Mrs. Adams blinks and Nevaeh claps her hands in glee. “You do?” she squeals.

My mouth opens and closes but no sound comes out. I look in panic at Yara, but she’s still smiling at me like she hasn’t just put me in an absolutely terrible position.

“Uhh…” I say. But all three family members are looking so hopefully at me, I can’t bring myself to let them down. “We went to school together, yeah.”

Nevaeh presses her hands over her heart. “That’s the best news ever!” she says with the kind of enthusiasm only eight-year-olds can muster. “Can you tell us where he works so we can visit him as well?”

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