Firestone by Claudia Hall Christian

Sandy
said.
    He looked at her.
    “ She’s been taking
sleeping lessons from Katy.” Sandy smiled. “She’ll stay
asleep.”
    “ Nice of Katy,” Aden said.
He leaned over the railing to pick up Rachel.
    Sandy smiled.
    “ How are you?” Sandy
asked.
    “ Sore. Tired. Disgusted.”
Aden held Rachel near his face to smell her baby scent. She was
sound asleep.
    “ How did it go today?”
Sandy asked.
    He looked at her for a moment.
    “ You can tell me.” Sandy
patted the bed next to her.
    He gave a kind of nod and went around the
bed to his side. Still carrying Rachel, he got into bed.
    “ She’s getting big,” Aden
said. “She looks like a real . . . kid, you
know?”
    “ She’s not a newborn
preemie anymore,” Sandy said.
    Aden nodded. They heard footsteps upstairs,
and Aden looked up.
    “ Jake’s home too?” Sandy
asked.
    “ He came home with me,”
Aden said. “I don’t know how he’s still standing. He says he’s been
awake for two days, but . . .
this . . . and . . .”
    Sandy watched him for a moment.
    “ How can people be so
selfish?” Aden asked. “We risked life and limb to save people.
We . . . and they . . .”
    “ What’s happening?” Sandy
asked. “I thought the state cleared Lipson
Construction.”
    “ The state and county,”
Aden said. “We had zero to do with the site when all this crap
happened, but of course, those
bastards . . .”
    Rachel opened her eyes when Aden’s voice
became terse. She gave her father a little yawn before falling
asleep again.
    “ She’s really beautiful,”
Aden said.
    Sandy smiled and waited. Aden sighed.
    “ The oil company is going
to investigate, and those bastards that took over from us are
paying for an ‘independent investigation,’ which only implies that
Jake and Sam paid the state and county.”
    “ What does Jake say?”
Sandy asked.
    “ He says not to worry
about it,” Aden said. “We’ll sort it out. We have enough on our
plate with the financial cut back
and . . .”
    “ The state’s still not
giving you back the road contracts,” Sandy said.
    “ Of course not,” Aden
said. “Everything that was true Thursday is true today. We’re all
broke, and these guys say it’s our fault the earthquake happened.
Makes me crazy.”
    Sandy gave him a soft smile.
    “ I don’t know, Sandy,”
Aden said. “Seems like doing the right thing only gets you into
trouble.”
    “ Look around us,” Sandy
said. “We live here in Delphie’s house. We moved in when we were
desperate — you were in prison, I was here with the kids alone,
pregnant. She’s never asked us for anything. I mean, we help out
with dinner or whatever, but they don’t charge us rent and they
help with the kids and everything. That’s what we get for trying to
do the right thing.”
    Aden gave her a long look.
    “ You’re just tired,” Sandy
said.
    Aden paused for a moment and looked at
Rachel.
    “ I want to use,” Aden
said. “I was going to . . . today at lunch.
But . . .”
    “ I know,” Sandy said.
Aden’s head jerked to look at her.
    “ I don’t know what to do,”
Aden said. “It’s been eating at me. I sat outside of a liquor store
last night for an hour. I had a plan to drink to day at lunch,
but . . . I guess I got too busy.”
    Sandy touched his arm and he looked at
her.
    “ It really scared me,”
Aden said. “I love our life. Using, drinking, would ruin
everything. I was right there, and
somehow . . .”
    “ You need rest,” Sandy
said. “Did you eat?”
    Aden shook his head.
    “ Don’t get too hungry,
angry, lonely, tired,” Sandy said.
    Aden smiled.
    “ How ’bout we go into the
kitchen?” Sandy got out of bed. “I’ll make you a roast beef
sandwich. You can tell me all about the site. We’ll make love, and
you’ll sleep like a baby.”
    “ That should do it.” Aden
grinned at her logic.
    “ Yep,” Sandy said. “And a
meeting tomorrow.”
    “ And a meeting tomorrow
first thing,”