If it was us.

"You have to stop doing this, Talia." She didn't really hear him until he grabbed her shoulder and said it again.

"What's the big deal? They had to go to the dentist." She turned back to the counter and continued peeling the carrots. 

"Seriously? You are seriously saying that to me? Who are trying to convince, Talia? Me or yourself?" Henry slammed the fridge door, threw the bag of mushrooms on the counter and sat down at the kitchen table.

"Thanks, Hon." Talia set the carrots aside and opened the bag of mushrooms. She heard Henry's long sigh and knew this wasn't over.

"Tal, you and I both know the kids didn't have dentist appointments today." He paused, waiting to hear her response. None came, so he continued, "You took them out of school again for no real reason. Where did you guys go?"

Talia had been wiping off the mushrooms, getting them ready for slicing, but she stopped. She put down the dish towel and turned toward her husband. "Nowhere. We went to the grocery store and came straight home."

"I'm so confused. Why?" Henry grasped her hand, pulling her until she stood directly in front of him as he sat on the chair. He took both her hands in his, looked up and asked, "What is going on?"

Talia looked into his eyes and knew she had to say something, she just wasn't sure what that something was. She shook her head, surprised to feel tears in her eyes. When she looked back at Henry, he whispered, "Tell me. This isn't like you at all."

He was right, Talia had never imagined that she would go to Nate and Sasha's school and make up some excuse to take them out of class for the day. She surely didn't imagine she would do it three times in two weeks. Nate was eight, Sasha was six. Both had been initially excited to be freed from school, but they weren't impressed about coming straight home; they were hoping to go do something fun and exciting.

"I just feel so lucky to be able to bring them home whenever I want. I mean, I don't work, so I'm always here for them, you know?" She could hear how upset she sounded. She could hear that she wasn't making sense.

"Talia, is this about wanting to get a job? Because you can, you know." Henry sounded relieved and Talia could almost hear a hint of laughter in his words.

"No, that's not it at all." She shook her hands out of his grip and turned back toward the counter. "I need to get this supper made," she said, wiping at her eyes, feeling ridiculous.

"Tal, I'm sorry. If that's not it, then what is it?" Henry was beginning to get impatient. He got up and stood beside Talia at the counter, trying to catch her gaze. She was furiously chopping mushrooms and slices were escaping the cutting board, falling to the floor. 

"I need them here, I need to know they're safe," she said as she switched from mushrooms to celery. 

"What are you talking about? Safe from what?" He put her hand on her shoulder, trying to turn her toward him, needing to see her face. Finally, she put down the knife and turned to him with a defeated posture and pleading eyes.

"Do you really think that school is safe? I mean, really? I'll bet none of those parents thought that when they sent their kids to school that day that it would be the last time they ever saw them!" Talia was crying now, her eyes were blurry, her face wet. Henry just stared at her, trying to form an answer, trying to find a fault with what she had said. Instead, he just pulled her close and held her. 

"So that's what's going on," he said softly. "I'm sorry, Tal. I know how hard this has been for you." And he did. She had barely slept the first week after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami had struck. It didn't matter that it happened on the other side of the world, it didn't matter that no one they knew was involved. Talia, like most people, had been glued to her computer, hanging on every word of every newscast on the radio, unable to distance herself. Absorbing the horror, but not knowing how to process it. Knowing that the same thing could happen right here.

"I keep seeing all those cars, trying to get away. How could they possibly outrun all that water?" she sobbed. Henry held her and kissed her head. He didn't have an answer and anything he thought of saying sounded trite and insufficient. At last, he said what he had been feeling for three weeks. "Every time I put the kids in the car, I imagine if it was us." 

Talia pulled back, looking up at him. "Me too." She had thought she was being too sensitive. She didn't imagine that Henry felt the same way. "Thank you for saying that," she said, burying her face in his chest, hugging him tightly.

Henry noticed a shift in her voice. She sounded like Talia again. They stood holding one another in the kitchen, slices of mushrooms and celery around their feet, until the kids came in, wondering what was for supper.