Grabbing Hold (The Motorcycle Kid #1)

62. Road Trip, Part One

The next morning, the last Saturday in August, the Daniel household was buzzing with activity. Charlotte had Dickson and Brady outside helping Emmett load his suitcases and boxes into the back of the old pickup truck, while Emma, Savannah, Natalie and Kale were in the kitchen, stuffing snacks and drinks into coolers for the trip. Natalie didn't miss the moment when Elliott snuck a six-pack of beer into the drinks cooler, grinning at the older young man, who just winked. 

Though Emmett had wanted him to tag along, Elliott had declined, and the rest of his family chose to give him the space he needed. He seemed to be doing much better recently, but then again, he hadn't ever been home long enough for them to make a proper assessment.

Unbeknownst to his parents or siblings, Elliott had been spending quite a lot of time in Harpers Ferry at Dr. Choi Seun Jin's clinic, burying his time in cognitive behavioural therapy and helping the Korean man redecorate the office space. Painting left Elliott a little dirtier than he would've liked, and a particularly traumatic episode with red paint sent him reeling for several hours and ended in an entire reevaluation of the new colour scheme, but he was doing way better than he expected for someone who'd left active duty less than three weeks before.

All that was left was to tell his family, and while Elliott knew he was doing better, he didn't think he was doing that well. I'll tell them before I go back, he kept saying to himself. I don't want them to worry.

Charlotte was just glad to see a genuine smile back on the face of her eldest child.

Derek, on the other hand, was conflicted about a lot of things, and found himself grateful that by the end of the day, he'd be on a plane bound for Miami. He watched quietly as Charlotte delegated tasks to the teenagers, managing the entire affair with the grace and skill of a consummate professional, while he tucked the few items he'd brought into a duffle bag, dropping his wallet, phone charger, plane ticket and passport on top before zipping it closed.

After his conversation with Charlotte a few nights before, Derek had changed his mind about driving halfway across the country with her, their kids and their friends. She'd been right about one thing, and it was that he needed to go home. He had responsibilities with the company that couldn't afford to wait much longer, and an ex-fiancée he desperately needed to talk to before things between them got any more complicated than they already were.

Ticket booked, he'd spent the most of his last day and night in Misty Vale with his children, playing video games with Emmett (while Elliott looked on, pretending not to smile at his father's sighs of exasperation every time he lost a round), and heading to the supermarket with Emma on the weekly food run, where the two had lost themselves in a mini sampling heaven of sorts, tasting everything on offer from bitter coffee to hot dogs to jam puffs and spring rolls. 

It had almost been like normal, as if their family had never been disrupted.

Why did it feel like saying goodbye?

"Five minutes!" Charlotte's voice broke him from his thoughts. "Kale, have you gone through the checklist?!"

"Yeah, Aunt Charlie, we're good to go!" a male voice yelled in response. 

"Derek, you ready?" his ex-wife asked, coming to stand beside him. She looked him over, took in the uncertainty in his eyes, his packed bag, and gave him a tight smile, squeezing his hand gently.

"You're doing the right thing, D," she told him. "It's going to be okay."

Derek exhaled shakily. "Yeah...yeah."

He grabbed his bag, heading for the doorway. "I'm gonna go talk to Emmett."

With that, he disappeared outside.