Page 421

~~Holiday Special (Day 1/7, Page 3/6)~~
Hector helped load the bags into Colt’s chosen vehicle, a midnight blue Pontiac. Afterwards, they shared one last meal together. It was a rather quiet repast, like all the others, but after a while, Colt broke the silence.

“Don’t die,” he said.

Hector looked up. “What?”

“When you’re out there,” said Colt. “Don’t die.”

Hector just tilted his brow at him.

Colt nodded toward the twins. “I want them to meet Uncle Hector when they’re actually old enough to remember him.”

His eyes widened at that. His mouth opened, but he didn’t know what to say. He glanced at the reapers, who both started laughing, which only made Hector flush red.

‘We’ll do our best,’ Garovel said in Hector’s stead.

Colt reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll get myself a new one to use for other things, and I’ll keep this one in reserve just for you guys. If you ever want to come find us, just give me a call.”

‘Alright.’

“Don’t lose the number. I’m guessing your phone will get destroyed one way or another, so keep my number some other way.”

‘I’ll remember it.’

Colt cocked an eyebrow at the reaper. “You’ll remember? Even if it’s five years from now?”

‘Oh yeah. Don’t worry.’

‘We have very good memories,’ said Bohwanox.

Colt gave a nod.

“W-we should, ah... we should have a code.”

Everyone looked at Hector.

“I mean, uh, y’know... just in case... because... I don’t want a repeat of... before.”

There was a brief silence, and then Colt said, “That’s a good idea. We’ll keep it simple. I won’t contact you at all from now on. You’ll call me if you want to talk. No texting. Speak directly to me or leave a voice mail. If there’s something wrong, but you can’t tell me what it is, for whatever reason, then use my first name. Jeremiah. That’ll be our code.”

“Uh. O-okay...”

‘Jeremiah,’ confirmed Garovel. ‘Got it.’