The “something better” was Grandma and Grandpa, and his parents arrived at the Burger King before they’d finished their meal, having left Sedona before dawn. His dad, as usual, greeted him with a complaint. “I still don’t understand why we had to come so early.”

Sue got out of her seat to give him a hug. “Hi, Grandpa!”

He smiled down at her. “Hi, sweetie.”

“We’re going to be staying with you,” his mom told Jillian, beaming happily.

“Not exactly,” Brad said.

She frowned. “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’?”

“I want you to take them with you,” he told his mom. “They can stay at your house, and I’ll pick them up on the weekend.”

“But what about school?”

“Yeah,” Jillian said. “Aren’t we going to school?”

“Not today,” he told her, and turned back to his parents. “They can afford to miss a week. I’ll get whatever homework they have and email it to you.”

His dad looked concerned. “What’s going on, Bradley?”

“A lot. I can’t explain it all right now, but I will. The most important thing, though, is to get Jillian and Sue away from here.”

“We heard about the shooting on the news…”

“That’s part of it, but there’s more. A lot more. And I’d feel better if I knew the girls were safe.”

“And did Patty really—” his mom started to say.

He shot a look at the girls, who were finishing off their orange juices. “Little pitchers,” he said.

She nodded. “Okay. Tell me later.”

He left his parents and the girls at Burger King, went back to the motel, then made a quick trip home, packing everything he thought they might need in two suitcases. He wasn’t sure what his mom and dad had talked to them about, but both Jillian and Sue seemed more worried when he returned than when he’d left. He took them both aside, told them everything was going to be okay. They were just going to stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s for awhile, but he would call them every morning and every night. He smiled. “It’s their house, so you’ll have to do what they say, but you know Grandma and Grandpa are a little bit wacky, right?”

Both girls giggled.

He gave them each a hug in turn and kissed their cheeks. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”

It was Sue who mentioned the elephant in the room. “Will Mommy be fine, too?”

He put a hand around the back of her neck, touched his forehead to hers. “I hope so. I think so. But I’ll let you know.”

He stood in the parking lot next to his dad’s Explorer and waved as the SUV backed up. The vehicle paused, and a window rolled down. “You have to call school and tell them we’re absent or we’ll get in trouble!” Jillian called.