Hazel Rain

Chapter 26

"You'll check in on her, right?" Adam slipped the shirt over his head, "I know she doesn't make it easy, Darlin', but she needs us." Adam sat on the edge of the bed and put his boots on.

Kim sat up clutching the sheet to her chest, "I will, I just hate bringing Hazel with me. She's apprehensive and timid around her" she rubbed his back, "Be careful today, alright?" She thought back on the last encounter Hazel had with Trudy just a few days ago.

Hazel picked the medallion up off the table, "What's this?" She asked Kim, rubbing her thumb over the colorful medallion in her hand.

Kim looked up from the pile of laundry she was sorting, "Its something that a firefighter gave to Aunt Trudy, now put it down so you don't lose it." Kim was already on edge as it was, she didn't need Hazel setting Trudy off.

In the two months since the funeral she'd been unpredictable and explosive. She had retreated into a deep and dark depression, she was barely living. It was why Kim had stopped in daily, bringing food and tidying up the house. Trudy rarely left the bedroom and if she did it was to berate whoever it was who had the balls to visit her.

"Ok." Hazel set the medallion back on the table satisfied with Kim's explanation and went to the 'playroom', Trudy had insisted on turning one of the spare bedrooms at their house into a playroom for Hazel and eventually Sam.

On her way to the playroom she became distracted and ended up in Mouch's office. Carefully she climbed into the chair and start playing with the computer on his desk, as she leaned her elbows on the desk she accidentally knocked a framed photo to the ground.

The sound of glass breaking pulled Trudy from her bedroom, she raced down the hall and saw Hazel as she stood over the broken frame, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to." Hazel explained her fingers near her mouth.

"Get out of this room, now! You don't come in here, no one does." Trudy yelled.

Adam's lips against her cheek drew her back to the present.

He held her face in his hands, "I'm always careful." He kissed her quickly, knowing he was already running late "maybe we can meet up for lunch, yea?"

Kim smiled, "Yeah. That sounds good, just call me when you can get away." She grabbed her robe, thankful that both kids were still sound asleep. Sam was just under seven months and finally began sleeping through the night for the most part. He still had the odd night where he woke up but they'd been few and far between. "I'm gonna take the kids to the park, let Hazel blow off some steam and Sammy can get some fresh air."

Hazel happily skipped ahead as Kim pushed Sam's stroller a few strides behind her, she could hear her call out to the woman who had become a friend and she cherished their mornings in the park. Even more so since Mouch's death Ms.Chambers had become a sounding board for Kim and it helped that both Hazel and Sam loved her.

"Ms.Chambers, hi!" Hazel ran towards the woman throwing her arms around her waist, "I missed you! Guess what!"

Ms.Chambers tapped the tip of Hazel's nose, "What?"

"Sammy's got a tooth! Isn't that cool? My baby is growing up.." she had repeated Kim's words from earlier when Adam had discovered the tooth, "you can't see it yet...but you can feel it. Uncle Adam found it, it's not done growing yet." She plopped on the bench, "Aunt Trudy is still sad..that makes me sad." She was like a pinball switching from one topic to the next, one could never half listen to Hazel. If you did, you never knew just what could happen or what you had agreed to.