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Chapter Twenty-Three
After a lunch break Zack and Laurel went back to work.
Laurel had held it together all morning. But seeing the kids’ rooms broke her. The robbers had trashed both rooms. Obviously they’d taken any electronics the kids had in their rooms, none of which was terribly valuable. But when she realized the broken pottery on their floors was from their piggy banks, Laurel broke down crying.
Zack pulled her into his arms and let her cry it out. Eventually, she sniffed and pushed herself away from him, a broken shard of pottery still clutched in her hand.
“How can anyone do that? Take a little child’s savings? It couldn’t have been more than a few dollars.”
“Laurel, they shot at you and your children. Taking money from a piggy bank pales in comparison, don’t you think?”
“Of course it does. But seeing their precious little piggy banks smashed to pieces just got to me. They were presents from my parents. Cody and Katrina both were so proud when they had money to save. They talked all the time about what they would do once the banks were full.”
“We’ll get them new ones.”
“It won’t be the same.”
“No, but it’s all we can do.”
While they were still cleaning up Harlan and Travis came over to install a new sliding door to the balcony. Regardless of when Laurel moved out, the door would have to be replaced so rather than wait for the insurance money to come through, her brothers elected to do it right away. Harlan could have had his crew do it, but apparently he and Travis wanted to take care of the repairs themselves.
“Thank you,” Laurel said. “You don’t have to do this.”
“We brought more locks for the front door but there’s not much point installing them if you’re moving out. Are you?” Travis asked pointedly.
“Will you quit nagging me if I say yes?”
“You are? That’s great!”
“We could have Zack’s new house ready to move into in no time. I can put a crew to work right away,” Harlan said. “You’d still have to live with workmen, but we could have a lot of it taken care of quickly. Just say the word.”
“I haven’t decided exactly what we’re doing yet. Zack and I need to talk more, for one thing.”
“What’s to talk about? The solution is right in front of your face,” Travis said impatiently. “Move in with Zack.”
“Travis?” Zack said. “Shut up.”
Harlan hadn’t said anything beyond offering to fix up the house quickly. Now he said, “Let’s finish up the door, Travis. Before Laurel clocks you.”
“For God’s sake, it’s not like I’m trying to force her to do something she doesn’t want to do. What is your problem?” he asked Laurel.
“Travis, I love you and I appreciate you’re worried about us, but this is something I need to discuss with Zack. So shut the hell up.”
At least she’d said she was going to talk to him, Zack thought. He’d been afraid she’d avoid talking again and he was at the end of his patience. The tedious work of cleaning up fingerprint dust didn’t help his humor either.
Harlan hugged Laurel and said, “No pressure. But you know you and the kids are welcome at our apartment anytime, for as long as you need to stay.”
“I know.” She hugged Travis too. “I love y’all. Thank you for fixing the door.” She closed the door after them and turned around to Zack. “I really love them but oh, my God, I’m glad they’re gone.”
“You can’t blame them for being worried about you.”
“I know, but Travis is about to drive me crazy.”
“Come sit down. It’s time we talked,” Zack said. When she started to say something he added, “Don’t blow me off again, Laurel. This is important.”
“You’re right.” She sat beside him. “I know you want me to move in with you.”
“No, what I really want is for you to marry me. But I’ll settle for you and the kids moving in with me.”
