Above & Beyond ✔

20. This is Not Goodbye

Dean stayed for dinner. We made grilled chicken and Caesar salad, something simple to prepare yet perfect for this kind of weather. Considering how strange the whole situation was, we kept the conversation light throughout the meal. It was refreshing after having such an emotional afternoon with Mom.

"Are you sure you're not going to spend the night here?" Mom asked as we dove into our dessert.

"Yeah, Ma is discharged tomorrow. I need to sort out some stuff. You know how useless Brian can be," Dean replied. I could tell how tired he was judging from the dark circle under his eyes.

"You're crazy for agreeing to drive here just to bring us the coffee machine. You could've used your time to catch some sleep," I said, shaking my head.

"I know, but I wanted to." Dean glanced at me sheepishly.

"I called your father this morning just to let him know that we arrived safely and a little update about our morning. Nothing more, nothing less," my mom said, chuckling. "I swear I didn't threaten to burn this cabin down if he didn't bring us a new coffee machine."

Dean snorted. "Please do us a favor and end the misery of this poor old cabin."

My mom laughed. "It would definitely kill him. This cabin is his baby."

"I thought the reception here still sucked. How did you manage to call?" Dean asked before shoving the last scoop of his second pudding into his mouth. No matter how many times I scolded him for eating too fast, the habit seemed to be too stubborn to go away.

"We were in town to do some groceries," Mom replied.

"You could've asked Mr. Smith to help you with groceries. He does that for Dad during his stay."

"No, we didn't want to trouble him more than we already did. He had to stay up till two last night to wait for our arrival."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Huh? That late? Did you guys get lost or something?"

"Umm, I missed the second turn after we entered the woods trail," I murmured.

Dean clicked his tongue. "Trust Jen with driving."

"Hey!" I glared at him but he just laughed and stood up to throw his empty pudding cups into the trash bin.

"So what's the plan after this?" Mom asked.

"Ma wants to fly home as soon as she's discharged. So, we're leaving on Monday."

"Isn't it too soon? She still needs time to recover," said Mom which I found unnerving. How in the world was she still concerned about Katherine after all of this drama?

"That's what we thought as well. But after the talk with her doctor, it seems doable as long as we're careful. We're renting a wheelchair to make it easier for her," Dean replied. "Dad was there. It was when he received your call this morning. So, we are now making some necessary arrangements for the trip."

"I see." Mom nodded. "I'm glad Sam finally helped out. He is doing much better in the past few weeks, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Dean mumbled. "I hope he can keep it up though."

"Have a little more faith in your father, young man." Mom got up from her seat, starting to collect all the dishes and pile them up. "And you need to drive back soon. Tomorrow is another long day. You can't afford to get sick right now."

"Yeah, I know." Dean stood behind his chair with both hands in his jeans pockets, shifting on his feet while glancing at me. "Um, I want to talk to Jen first."

"Of course. Why else would you trouble yourself driving all the way here?" My mom winked at us. "Go, both of you. Just don't make it too late. The boy needs his sleep."