Somehow, this started me on a spending spree. After years of saving my money, and never buying anything I didn’t absolutely need or at least knew I would definitely make good use of, I left the store carrying some of the most useless shit imaginable. In addition to a week’s worth of groceries for a family of five, I bought an emoji pancake pan, a heated hairbrush, a bedside essentials pocket, and a starbucks-themed airpod case. I didn’t even have airpods! I was an Android Guy! The taxi driver had no problem helping me put it all into the cap. Since it was Ava’s eighteenth birthday, and I was now loaded as fuck, I put ten $100 bills into the little aluminum box before placing it together with the camera in the gift bag.
I entered the house carrying my two large Walmart shopping bags, still in enough of a daze to not think about the cars parked in the driveway, and immediately started for the kitchen to put the groceries away. I only made it to the living room, though.
“TIM!” I heard a female scream, before I was almost tackled to the ground by a sobbing Claire.
Suddenly the entire family rushed into the living room from all around the house, talking wildly over each other with shocked faces upon seeing mine. I just stood there confused as hell about why they were even home, while trying not to wince from Claire’s arms digging into my bruised side. I hadn’t had a chance to tell them that it was safe to come back, so I wasn’t expecting anyone before tomorrow evening.
“Why are you here?” I asked, dropping my shopping bags.
“Well, after you ended that call with your mother by saying ‘Goodbye’, she was panicking. So we had John call Bill to check in with you.” Aaron started.
“About an hour later, he gave us the Okay to come back. He said everything was settled.” John supplied. “When we arrived here, it didn’t exactly look that way, though.”
I looked at him questioningly, as Claire’s grip on my body tightened significantly, making me almost lose the battle for control as I silently winced.
“We saw your car out front, but then we saw the blood on it. And the door was open, with your stuff lying around like you just threw it there. We couldn’t find you anywhere and our calls went directly to voicemail!” Danielle explained, sounding a lot like she had a hard time controlling her voice, until John put his arm around her. “It scared the hell out of all of us.”
I scowled at that. Or, at least I tried as best as I could, with a freshly taped up eyebrow. I pushed my hand into my right pants pocket and pulled out my phone ... in multiple parts and with a cracked screen.
“Fucking great! He must’ve broken it when he kicked me. And are you telling me the cops didn’t even bother closing my damn car door!?” I couldn’t believe this. First they failed to inform me that the guy who tried to kill me was out and about, and then I almost got my car stolen because of them.
“Cops! What happened to your face, Son?” Aaron asked, while all of them eyed me critically.
That comment made me perk up again. How could they not know about the police being there? I mean, let me visualize what they just told me: They come home, find my open car with blood on it, the strewn about groceries in the lawn being another sign of a struggle, they realize I’m missing and can’t be reached by phone ... And then they DON’T proceed to call the cops themselves!?
Though, maybe they came home just a few minutes ago, and simply did not have a chance to call anyone after unsuccessfully trying to call me. I tried to stay calm instead of exploding again, and started rubbing my eyes with a frustrated groan. That drew their attention to my already darkening forearms, and made them take an even closer look at my appearance.
“Pumpkin, what...?! I saw the shiners, but your shirt is also covered in blood!” Granny gasped, and I saw everyone’s eyes widen a little more.
The entire time, Claire had not said a single word. She just clung to me like she was scared I would vanish, her face buried in my chest and, judging by the wet feeling, silently crying into my shirt. Her body had mostly hidden the red on my clothes, so they couldn’t notice earlier. But when Granny said those words, Claire quickly pulled away and looked at me. So did I.
“Huh.” I remarked, “So that’s why I got those weird looks when I was shopping.”
“Bill said you’re OKAY!!!” Claire suddenly shouted in an accusing tone.
“I am Okay. Only most of the blood is actually mine.” I joked. They didn’t share my sense of humor, apparently.
“What happened!?” she sounded frantic. I seriously didn’t understand why she was overreacting so much.
“Well, I paid those guys off and, like Bill told you, we’re probably fine now. As long as Logan stays out of the bar, he should be safe to go back to college as well. But, apparently, the guy who stabbed me is out on bail and nobody thought it would be necessary to warn me.” I explained, trying to get some distance between me and Claire, but she absolutely refused to let go of me. And now Granny was searching my body for injuries while Claire held me in place. “I’m fine!”
Hearing that, Claire moved in to hug me close again. But while her arms went around my chest before, irritating my still annoyingly broken rib, now her arms wrapped around my stomach, pressing directly into my fresh bruises and causing me to hiss loudly. As soon as they heard that, they basically ripped my shirt off my body and inspected my slowly darkening side and forearms.
“I’m so sorry, Baby! How bad is it really?” Claire asked, her voice quivering again.
“It’s really not as bad as it looks. The side’s just bruised. The nose bled like hell, but nothing’s broken. Well ... more broken. It’ll all fix itself in a few days.”
They all looked at me with concern, but I used the opportunity to move freely to pick up the shopping bags, and walked into the kitchen to unload them onto the counter. Claire quickly stepped close behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist this time. Why was she so clingy? I didn’t get it! Even after I was stabbed, she was not as pushy as now. Ava and Maggie quickly came into the kitchen as well, helping me to put the groceries away.
“Okay, next question. How are you here?” I inquired.
“What do you mean?” Maggie asked.
“I mean, I paid them off, like ... Little less than three hours ago. So, how did you pack, make the drive back from Granny’s that takes at least three hours at this time of day, and arrive here before me?” I asked, too tired to even suspect anything.
Instead of giving me an answer, Maggie turned her eyes away from me while Ava avoided my gaze as well.
“Well... “ Aaron started, but seemed like he didn’t want to finish, looking from face to face.
“We never actually made the drive to Beaumont.” Grandpa said with a firm voice. “Sorry, Kiddo. I accepted that you were the best suited to handle this whole dang mess, but there was no way we would just run and hide while my Grandson takes on those kinds of people by himself!”
As he talked, Granny stood beside him and displayed a firm, approving nod. What exactly did they achieve, other than putting themselves in danger? And for what? But then I understood the weird situation with Ava from a few days ago.
“You were camping out at John’s!?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes.” I heard a cheery chorus of voices, released from a multitude of smiling faces, confirm.
“Okay...” I was a little irritated by their cheerfulness, because I was feeling anything but. “What else did you do?”