Talking to the family members?

Fuck.

“You’ll be fine,” he repeats.

I nod and leave his office and walk briskly to my car, slam the door and pull my phone out. If this is what I have to do to get home, so be it.

I firm my jaw and dial the first number.

***

The drive back to Seattle has been too long. Another week has passed since I made those calls. A week to pack up my shit, sit through a few more sessions with the good doctor and get on the road.

Jesus, what if she doesn’t take me back?

I pull to a stop in front of her house and jump from the car, leaving the door wide open, and race to the front door, banging with my fist.

No answer.

The house is calm.

I run around to the back and notice with satisfaction that the back window has been replaced. My workout gear is gone.

I’ll have to replace that.

I bang on the sliding glass door, but there is still no answer and no movement inside. Even Bix doesn’t come running to see who is knocking.

Please let them be at her mom and dad’s.

I climb back into the car and race to Bryn’s parents, but am faced with another quiet, still house.

Where is everybody?

It’s Sunday morning, for Christsake.

With a frown, I head north of Seattle toward my parent’s house. I haven’t spoken to them, or anyone, in almost two months. I need to clear the air and apologize.

To everyone.

Just as I pull up to the house and step from the car, Matt pulls in behind me with Pop and Isaac with him.

Before I can get a word out, Matt storms from his car, his eyes pissed and teeth bared and grips me by the collar of my shirt and slams me against my car.

“You fucking cocksucker!” He yells and pulls his fist back and plants it firmly in my jaw.

“What the fuck?” I yell and reverse our positions, pinning Matt to the car. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Instead of answering, he swings again, planting his fist in my eye and I reel back, landing flat on my ass.

He’s a strong fucker.

Before Matt can continue with his ass-beating, Isaac and Pop grab both his arms and hold him back.

“I said stop!” Pop yells.

“Jesus Christ, man!” Isaac cries.

“It’s his fault!” Matt points at me and spits to the side, blood lands on the concrete from the jab I managed to get in.

“What the fuck is my fault?” I demand and press the heel of my hand to my eye. Christ, that hurts. “I haven’t even been here!”

“Exactly!” Matt shrugs Isaac and Pop off and gets in my face again, but doesn’t touch me. His nose is inches from mine, his eyes wide and dark in anger, jar clenched. “You weren’t fucking here. I told you before you left she wasn’t safe yet. We didn’t know enough to pull her security.”

“What are you saying?” I ask as my heart stutters into overdrive.

“They’ve been hurt, son,” Pop murmurs from behind Matt.

“What?” My eyes find Isaac and Pop’s only to find them full of sadness and fear. “What?” I ask Matt.

“Someone cut her brake line,” Isaac informs me. “She and the girls were in a pretty nasty accident last night.”

I back away from them all, my feet moving without any direction from my head. I shove my hands up into my hair and stare at my brothers and father.

“What?”

“The kids aren’t banged up too badly. Mostly bruises, although Maddie needed stitches in her hand,” Isaac informs me.

“Brynna?” I ask.

“She’s unconscious,” Pop replies softly. “Concussion. Dislocated shoulder. They’re keeping her to watch the head injury and to make sure there’s nothing internal.”

“Oh my God.”

“There was video surveillance in the parking lot of the mall she was parked in, so we know who did it, and we have already arrested him,” Matt mutters, still glaring at me. “But you weren’t here, Caleb.”

“Why was she alone?” I ask.

“You weren’t fucking here!”

“So what!” I scream back. “You’re here! You’re all here! She’s as safe with you as she was with me!”

“She wouldn’t allow it,” Pop inserts with a sigh. “She said she could take care of her and the girls on her own, she’d been doing it for years, and she wouldn’t let us move her in with us or stay with her.”

I’m pacing around the driveway, not believing my ears.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“You messed her up, man,” Isaac says. “She’s been a mess. The girls cry a lot.”

Direct hit, right to the gut.

“I left because I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“You left,” Matt interrupts, “because you’re a fucking pussy.”

“Where are they?”

None of them will answer me, and it tears me apart that they don’t trust me. That they think that I’ll hurt Brynna and the babies.

“Where are they?” I repeat. “Dad, I love them. That’s why I’m here.”

Pop sighs and rubs his eyes with his hands.

“They’re at Harborview.”

Without answering I jump in my car and peel out of my parent’s driveway.

My girls are hurt!

I race down to Harborview, not paying attention to the posted speed limits or traffic laws, find parking and run inside.