Page 69 of Echoes of Eternity
“I wish that were the case. There seems to be an issue in their life every time I interact with Linda.” Ryan stood up and glanced in the direction of the open apartment door. “It’s not a good situation here for either one of them.”
“And Dad thought this was adequate to provide for them?” Jason looked disappointed.
Rubbing his neck, Ryan shrugged as he turned toward him. “I guess. Money was the only thing he could offer them.”
Jason shook his head lightly as he looked to be contemplating the statement.
“Right?” Ryan fixed his gaze on his brother. “I mean, what would you have done?”
Peering up at Ryan, Jason shook his head. “I wouldn’t have had sex with someone who wasn’t my wife. Even if I was separated . . .”
“Right. But I meant in the situation.”
Sighing, Jason shook his head again. “I have no idea, Bro.”
Linda burst back into the apartment and grabbed her purse from the coffee table. “Sorry to cut things short, but I need to go stop my daughter from being stupid. Can we do this another time, maybe?”
On the drive back to Cedarwood Creek, Jason kept quiet for a lot of the drive. As they neared their exit, he started to open up about the short visit.
“Their life isn’t in a good spot, Ryan.”
“I know.”
“You know . . .” Jason smiled as he shook his head a few times and looked over at him. “I get why you did what you did now. I feel like I want to help in whatever way I can.”
Scoffing, Ryan shook his head. “Be careful. I lost my family because of it. And now I’m probably losing the grill and being run out of town.”
“You can’t take that all on as your fault or because you helped.”
“I do, though.”
“You were trying to honor Dad and at the same time help others.”
“Yeah, a lot of good that did . . .”
“And Emily left you because you lied, not because you helped Linda.”
“Lying was part of it, me working too much was another part of it. Also, I’m pretty sure she didn’t want me to help them or have anything to do with them. She preferred I just cut Linda and Tiffany off entirely. I couldn’t do that. You heard Linda today. She just lost her job . . .” Ryan rubbed his forehead, the weight of Linda’s situation pressing on his mind.
“We can’t just keep giving her money. We need to figure out a way for her to make money, and enough of it to get the two of them out of their situation and environment.”
Emily took Thursday off the next week, and she, along with all three of her children, arrived at Brittany’s apartment at just after ten o’clock that morning. Luckily, Brittany found some men from the men’s shelter in town to help her with the move. As the guys were unloading a pickup truck full of donated furniture from the local rescue mission, Emily saw some garbage bags of clothing in the back of the truck and handed one to her daughter, Elizabeth, and some smaller boxes to each of the boys.
“Take them inside.” Emily pointed to the open doorway of the bottom apartment.
Walking with a garbage bag in hand, Emily followed her children and went inside. She found Brittany in the living room showing the men where to set the couch.
Upon seeing Emily, Brittany smiled and let out a gleeful sound as she ran over to her. “I’m so happy you came!”
Giving her a hug, Emily then handed her the bag of clothing.
“What can I do?”
“My friend Carla took the kids, so I have something else for you. Come with me.”
Following behind Brittany, they went into the master bedroom. Frames leaned against a wall on one side. “I have some personal pictures in here of family and then random art stuff that came from my place with Todd.”
“Who’s Todd?”