My head felt achy, stomach slightly unsettled when I rose at 6AM, my usual time. Mom was heading for the kitchen when I caught up with her, her own face a bit pinched and pale.
"Trouble sleeping?" I hugged her around her shoulders, parting ways with her at the foyer as I followed Petunia out.
Mom nodded, yawning behind one hand. "I miss your father." She smiled then and left me to start breakfast while I padded out into the cold November morning to watch over my pug as she snuffled her way across the parking lot to a patch of browning grass.
Sounds of movement inside alerted me we weren't the only ones awake as I returned, Grayson stomping his way downstairs with his khakis and camouflage making his bulky body look more like a target than a hunter. Dan followed close behind, Bill on his heels, Moose hopping his big body down to the main floor to trot to me, head butting my leg for a scratch.