when the taxi pulled up in front of gretchen's rental house, the light of dawn was breaking over caldwell in a lovely wash of peach and golden yellow. the trip away from st. francis had been a hell of a lot better than the one to the er in the back of that ambulance, but it was clear to gretchen that vin was far from well. with his pale green, rigid face, he was obviously in pain, and mobility was going to be a problem with that arm of his in a sling. plus he looked like a homeless man in the floppy shirt the hospital had given him, its wide-open collar showing off the super-white bandage that ran from the base of his neck all the way across one side of his chest.

"next stop the commodore, right?" the driver said over his shoulder.

"yeah," vin replied in an exhausted voice.

gretchen stared out the window at her little house. the babysitter's car was parked in front on the street and there was a light on in the kitchen. upstairs, robbie's room was dark. she didn't want vin to go back to the duplex by himself. she wasn't sure how robbie would take to meeting him. and she felt trapped between the two.

turning to vin, she searched his familiar, handsome features. he was talking to her...patting her hand...probably telling her to get some rest, take care of herself, call him when she was up...

"please come in," she blurted. "stay with me. you've just been shot and you need someone to look after you."

vin stopped in midsentence and just stared at her. which was precisely what the cabbie did in the rearview mirror. then again, both the invitation and the gunshot part were no doubt equally surprising to each of the men, respectively.

"what about robbie?" vin asked.

gretchen glanced up and met the driver's eyes. god, she wished there were some way of putting up a partition so the guy behind the wheel didn't hear all this.

"i'll introduce you to him and him to you. and we'll just go from there."

vin's mouth tightened and she braced herself for a no. "thank you...i'd like to meet your son."

"good," she whispered with a combination of relief and fear. "let's go."

she paid the fare and got out of the cab first so she could help vin - but he shook his head and grabbed the side of the taxi to pull himself up. which was a good thing, considering the way the muscles in his forearm clenched. given how much he weighed, she was more likely to fall on him than actually get him to his feet.

once he was upright, she hitched herself under his good side, shut the door, and helped him up the front walk.

instead of trying to find her keys, she knocked quietly and quinesha opened the way immediately. "my lord, will you look at you two."

the woman stepped back and gretchen got vin over to the couch, where he didn't so much sit down as fall on the cushions - which led her to believe his knees gave out.

for long moments, everyone waited to see if he was going to need to be rushed to the bathroom.

when it seemed like he had himself under nominal control, quinesha didn't ask a lot of questions. she just gave gretchen one of her quick, hard hugs, asked if there was anything she could do, and hit the road when she was thank-you-but-no'd from the heart.

gretchen locked the door up and put her purse down on the ratty wing chair by the tv. as vin let his head fall back and his lids crash down, she was not surprised when he took a series of long, deep recovery breaths and held otherwise completely still.

"you want the bathroom?" she asked, hoping he didn't have to throw up again.

when he shook his head, she went into the kitchen, got a glass out of the cupboard, and filled it full of ice. courtesy of her son, there were two things she always had in the house: ginger ale and saltines, also known as mother's cure-all. even though robbie was homeschooled, he played with other kids at the y, and the sitters all had children who came down with flus and colds and stomach bugs. a mom never knew when she might need the magic combo.

cracking open a fresh can of canada dry, she poured the soda over the ice and watched the fizz go crazy and foam up right to the top of the glass. as she waited for things to settle, she got out a sleeve of the crackers and put a two-inch stack on a folded paper towel.

just as she was topping off the glass again, she heard vin's gravelly voice from the living room:

"hi."

her first instinct was to rush in to reassure robbie - but she knew if she made it look like there was a problem, she'd only make things more dramatic than they already were going to be. picking up what she'd gotten for vin, she forced herself to walk calmly into the living room.

robbie's hair was sticking up in the back as it always did when he got out of bed, and his spider-man pj's made him look smaller than he really was because she'd purposely bought them two sizes bigger than he needed.

standing just inside the room, he was focused on their guest, his eyes wary, but curious.

god...her heart was pounding and her throat was tight and the ice in the ginger ale was rattling from the way her hand shook.

"this is my friend vin," she offered quietly.

robbie glanced back at her and then refocused on the couch. "that's a big band-aid. you gots a cut?"

vin nodded slowly. "i do."

"from what?"

gretchen opened her mouth, but vin got there first with an answer. "i fell down and hurt myself."

"that why you gots the sling, too?"

"yeah."

"you don't look so hot."

"i don't feel so hot."

there was a long pause. and then robbie took a step forward. "can i look at your band-aid?"

"yeah. sure." though it clearly cost him a lot of agony, vin moved the strap of the sling off his shoulder and slowly unbuttoned his borrowed shirt. peeling the cloth back, he exposed the padding and gauze and tape.

"wooooooooow," robbie said, walking all the way over and reaching out.

"don't touch him, please," gretchen said quickly. "he's hurting."

robbie retracted his hand. "i'm sorry. you know...my mom's good at healing my cuts."

"yeah?" vin said roughly.

"uh-huh." robbie glanced over his shoulder. "see? she already gots the ginger ale." dropping his voice down to a whisper, he added, "she always gives me ginger ale and saltines. i don't really like 'em all that much, but i usually feel better after i eat 'em."

gretchen went over to the couch and put the crackers on the table next to vin. "here. this'll steady your stomach."

vin took the glass and looked at robbie. "you okay with me hanging on your couch for a little while? truth is, i'm really tired and i need a place to rest."

"yeah. you can stay here till you're all better." her son put his hand out and introduced himself. "i'm robbie."

vin extended his good arm. "nice to meet you, my man."

after they shook, robbie smiled. "i have an idea, too."

as he headed out of the room, she said, "you want to get changed out of your pj's, please?"

"yes, mom."

it took every ounce of control for gretchen not to do the whole snatch and hug thing as he passed by - but he was behaving as the man of the house, and seven-year-olds deserved to have their pride. "you think that went okay?" vin asked softly.

"i really do." she blinked fast and sat down next to him. "and please drink some of that."

vin clasped her hand in a fast squeeze and then took a sip. "i don't think i'm up for the saltines."

"we can wait on those."

"thank you...for letting me meet him."

"thank you for being so good with him."

"i'll stay on the couch, okay?"

"yup and we can do our lessons in the kitchen. i home-school him, and today's monday."

"i love you," vin said, turning his head to face her. "i love you so goddamn much it hurts."

she smiled and leaned in, kissing him. "that might just be your shoulder talking."

"no, it's closer to the center of my chest. i think...it's called the heart? not sure, as i haven't had one before."

"i believe that would be the heart, yes."

there was a pause. "you still going to move into my farmhouse?"

"if it's still okay with you, yes."

"you mind having someone else in one of the guest rooms while you're there? you know, a fellow tenant? it's a big place, and there's this maid's room over the kitchen that he could use while you and robbie have the whole run of the second floor. and i can vouch for the guy. he's neat and clean, quiet, respectful. known him a long time. he's trying to get his life back together and is going to need a place to stay."

she stroked his face, and thought they hadn't known each other for all that long if you counted the hours...but considering what they'd been through, it was as if everything needed to be measured in something like dog years. or more.

"i think that would be great."

they kissed again quickly and he said, "if it doesn't work, i'll leave right away."

"somehow i think it's going to be fine."

vin smiled and sipped a little more. "i haven't had ginger ale in years."

"how's your stomach - "

robbie came back down, still in his pj's. "here, this'll help!"

as he held out his favorite spider-man comic book, gretchen took the soda so that vin could accept the gift.

"this looks really cool," vin murmured as he put the comic on his lap and opened the first page.

"it'll take your mind off things." robbie nodded as if speaking from decades of experience. "sometimes when you hurt, you need distraction." distraction came out discrackshion.

"i gotta go get ready for school. you stay here. drink that. mom and i will check on you." robbie marched out of the room like he'd arranged everything. and just like that, vin was in like flynn.