Midnight Heat (Firework Girls #2) by J. L. White Read Free Book Online

impressed.
    “I don’t think I would’ve really done that,” I said, “but I wasn’t going to give up either. He finally signed us up and that first meeting was really good. They have activities for the kids to do while the adults go off and talk about whatever. I don’t even remember what our first activity was. Maybe it was decorating the memory stones. I forget. Anyway, that group was good because we weren’t, like, sitting around talking about everything and crying or something. It was a lot of fun and just... I don’t know... just nice to be with other kids who knew what it was like, because most kids have no idea, you know?”
    He nodded and squeezed my hand. I realized he was listening, really listening to me. I’d told Brad about my mom, of course, but I never really got into all this with him. I don’t know why. I think he would’ve listened. He wasn’t that much of an ass. But... Grayson felt safer. I didn’t quite realize how guarded I’d become with Brad until I sat there talking to Grayson about my mom and my family. And it felt okay.
    “They had this anger activity once. I think this was our third meeting or something. Anyway, at the beginning the leaders talked about all the emotions you have after a parent dies, and how they’re sometimes on the inside where no one can see them. I think they went through all the emotions, but that night they focused on anger. So everything was healthy ways to get it out, like popping bubble wrap. And we got to throw bean bags at a wall and try to knock off all these sticky notes. It was really fun and we really got into it. I remember watching Bobby as he was throwing those bean bags. He was laughing like the other kids, but I could see it in his eyes, you know? All the stuff underneath. The parents came back then because we had one last activity we were going to do with everyone, the parents too. It was this little race with wadded up balls of paper and hockey sticks.”
    Grayson was listening intently, stroking the back of my hand with his thumb.
    “Anyway, so we did all this stuff and the leaders wrapped things up and I remember thinking how strange and refreshing it was to have someone acknowledge everything I was going through without me feeling like a pariah about it. It just was, and it was really nice. Then, I’ll never forget this, on the way home, Dad said, ‘I sure miss your mother.’ And he didn’t ever say stuff like that. He just didn’t. I said ‘Me too,’ and then it was quiet for a while. I looked into the backseat and Bobby was crying pretty hard. A long time later he told me he’d never cried about her before. Can you imagine? This was like two years later and he finally cried over her. No wonder he was having such a hard time. Anyway, my dad noticed and reached back and patted Bobby’s knee and then we were all crying and cried all the way home.”
    My eyes were watering just talking about it.
    “It was really good though, you know?” I said, and Grayson nodded. “Things slowly got better after that.”
    I settled back against the couch cushions, done with my story. Grayson took a deep breath. “Well. It sounds like you saved your family there, Chloe.”
    I shrugged. I didn’t know about that.
    “It must be hard to let go of that responsibility,” he said, “now that the crisis is over.”
    I laughed lightly. “The crisis is hardly over. My brother’s in college mingling with frat boys.” I rolled my eyes. “Me and my friends tried to keep a pretty close eye on him last year.”
    Grayson smiled. “Did he get into a lot of trouble?”
    I sighed. “Not really, I guess. Normal stuff, really. But, you know, he’s my baby brother. I don’t want to see him get hurt.”
    “I can understand that,” he said, but he gave me a knowing smile, as if he knew better.
    “I know. I need to let go.” I’d known this for a while, but saying and doing were two different things sometimes.
    “So, if you really, really could do