“I will speak in whatever volume I damn well want to!” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“I’m trying to do something for Addie. I want to see if I can find her daughter for her.” Henry spoke with his jaw clenched, blood dribbling down his chin. Nick joined them.
“Hero Henry saves the day again. However, all the while, you’re putting others in danger!”
“That’s not what I’m trying to do!” His fists were clenched at his sides.
“Can I ask why you’re snarling at Claire?”
Henry looked stunned that Nick was even questioning his reactions. He pointed at his mouth. “She punched me in the mouth. Knocked out my tooth!”
“You probably deserved it.” Nick winked at Claire. He was proud of her.
“Fuck off. Both of you.” Henry turned around and began walking back to the truck. I was surprised to see the amount of blood that was all over his chin and shirt. He pulled off his shirt, using it to wipe his chin off. He got back into the truck.
“Look!” He pointed at his jaw. “She knocked out my fucking tooth!” He grumbled something unintelligible. He reached over and began unhooking me.
“I’m sorry, but I can understand why she’s mad.” He glared at me. “You can’t understand it?”
“What do you want me to say?” He grabbed the two vials and drank one. He contemplated drinking the second one, but he summoned Nick over instead.
“She doesn’t want you to risk Nick’s life, and probably Thomas’ and yours, as well!”
“You don’t understand. I need to do this.”
“Why? So you can get a hero’s welcome back? If you want a pat on the back, I’ll surely give you one for getting us as far as you have.”
“No! That’s not why I want to do this!” He held the shirt to his mouth, trying to stop the bleeding.
“Henry, don’t start with the ‘this is all my fault’ bullshit again.”
Nick opened my door. “What?” Nick growled. Henry handed him the vial. “Thank you,” he snapped.
“I could have drank that, and you would have had to beg Thomas for some.” Speak of the devil, Thomas came strolling out. “Oh, what the fuck? Everyone get in!” Henry yelled out of the window. Claire walked over at a snail’s pace. Henry was steaming hot while everyone hopped into the truck.
“First of all, thank you, Claire. I’m now missing a tooth.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with a self-satisfied grin.
“Thomas, I talked to Nick and thought we could go to the school and look for Addie’s daughter. She has checked everywhere she can think of. The last place she was at was school, and she couldn’t get in there.”
“We, as in…?” Thomas asked.
“The three of us.” Thomas didn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“I’m in.”
“Thank you. So you see what I’m trying to do?”
“Yeah. Addie helped us, and you wan’ to give back. I don’ see anythin’ wrong wit’ that.” I heard Claire sigh.
“I don’t mind going.”
“What?!” Claire immediately jumped on Nick.
“I’m not going to let them go on their own. No one will be able to change his mind so we might as well go.” Nick was one hundred and ten percent correct.
“Nick, this is foolish. You three may not come back!” Claire was really pissed.
“I’ll come back. I promise you that. I have a lot to live for, and I won’t give up.” He laid his hand on her stomach.
“Addie is looking out the door,” I whispered.
“After breakfast, the three of us are going. You two girls stay here with Addie, and pack our stuff so we’re ready to go.”
“Aye, aye, captain.” Claire wasn’t going to let up. We climbed out of the truck, one by one, and silently walked back up to the front porch.
“What happened to you?” Addie grabbed Henry by the arm and dragged him inside.
“I’m fine. I tripped over something in the lawn, knocked out a tooth.”
“Why are you so cold? Are you getting sick?”
“No, ma’am. I’m fine. I’m always cool for some reason.”
“Alright. Well, come on then. I can get you cleaned up and check out your mouth.” Henry looked back at me and shrugged.
“Addie? Would you like Claire and me to start breakfast?”
“Sure, that would nice. Go ahead and slice up the vegetables in the basket. Once I get Henry taken care of, we can start a fire so I can cook breakfast.”
As soon as Claire and I made it into the kitchen, I slapped a pepper into her hand.