A HORN honked outside the house the next morning. Carter and Kelly waited in the car. I was nervous.
“Hey, Ox,” they said when I got in the front seat. Kelly sat behind me.
“Hey,” I said back. I wrung my hands together.
“He’s okay,” Carter said as we bumped down the dirt road.
I let out a breath. “You sure?”
“He will be.”
Kelly said, “We’ll make sure of it.”
And I said, “Your dad says I’m part of your pack,” because I wanted to make sure they thought so too.
Carter hit the brakes suddenly. The seat belt pulled against my chest. Kelly’s arms came around my front, clasping tightly. Carter leaned over and rubbed his forehead against my shoulder. “Of course you are,” he said and Kelly hummed his agreement, arms tightening.
We didn’t say much after that and that was okay.
CARTER LAUGHED at something Jessie said. Even Kelly smiled. I was in a daze.
GORDO WAS at the shop. The moment I walked through the door, he was in front of me.
There were bags under his eyes, and he looked pale. Even the tattoos on his arms looked faded.
“You okay?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Yeah. You?” He sounded pained.
“You weren’t here yesterday.”
“I know.”
“Maybe you should go home, man. You don’t look well.”
“I’m feeling better now,” he said and then he hugged me.
We didn’t do this often, so I was surprised. But I hugged him back anyway because he was Gordo. I put everything I could into it because I needed to.
“I’m getting you a phone,” he muttered. “Cell phone. I’m pissed off that you don’t have one. Couldn’t even call you.”
“Hey, no. You don’t need to—”
“Shut up, Ox.”
And so I did.
JOE WASN’T waiting for me on the dirt road. The lights were on in the house at the end of the lane. I was pack now, but I went home instead.
I SLEPT with the stone wolf in my hand.
CARTER AND Kelly smiled at me when I got into the car the next morning. I wanted to ask them about the eight weeks Joe was missing, but the words stuck in my throat. Both of them found some way to touch me. A clap on the back. A pat against my chest.
It should have been obvious. It should have been obvious what they were, but then I wasn’t looking for the incredible buried in the ordinary.
“HOW’S JOE?” Jessie asked at lunch, and Carter and Kelly froze.
“Haven’t seen him,” I muttered.