Page 24 of Centering Kaos

“You think it’ll be like that for Dylan?” I asked.

Kaos shrugged. “Every kid’s different. But I can promise you that learning how to play with a team won’t hurt him. Now that you’re here, I can take him out on the ice and see what he thinks. A buddy of mine coaches at one of the local arenas. He’ll have some gear we can borrow.”

Before I could answer, Dylan came shooting into the room, skidding to a stop in front of me. “Mom! Kaos has a game room!”

I hadn’t even seen him leave the window. “A game room?”

The heat of Kaos’s hand returned to my lower back. “Yeah. Come on, I’ll show you.”

As we walked, he pointed out a bathroom and an office before rounding the corner and stepping down into a sunken great room. It was the size of his kitchen and living room combined, with more overstuffed sofas angled toward a large screen television, a dart board, pool table, foosball table, an air hockey table, and a bookshelf loaded with board games.

“This is the coolest room ever!” Dylan announced, bouncing as he hustled past me to check out the tables.

“Another compliment?” Kaos asked, sounding amused.

I bit back a smile. “Don’t get used to it. The newness will wear off soon. Let me guess, this room is for your nieces and nephews, too?”

“Nope.” Kaos stepped up to the foosball table and spun one of the rods attached to the little soccer players. “This is all for me, but I let them play with me occasionally.”

The sound of the spinning rod caught Dylan’s attention, and he leaped halfway across the room to join Kaos. “Can I play?”

“Ask your mom,” Kaos said, deferring to me.

“One game, and then we need to find you a bathtub and a bed.”

“But I took a bath yesterday,” Dylan complained.

“Kaos is being nice and letting us stay at his house, so we need to take care of it. You don’t want to leave the bed stinking like your sweaty feet, do you?” I asked. Dylan had the worst smelling feet on the planet if he didn’t bathe daily. I was hoping that was something he’d grow out of eventually.

“Gross,” Kaos added.

Dylan sighed. “Fine. I’ll bathe.”

Kaos’s lips twitched, but he managed not to smile as he dropped a little white ball in the middle of the foosball table. The two of them started spinning rods and calling out challenges, and by the end of the game, Dylan was belly laughing. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen tears of joy leak from his eyes and my chest squeezed at the sight.

“Did you see that?” he asked me, pointing to the table. “Kaos accidentally kicked the ball into his own goal.”

I was pretty sure the last goal hadn’t been accidental, but there was no way I’d wipe the smiles off of either of their faces by saying as much. “Yeah. That was crazy. Come on now. Let’s go find you a bathtub.”

Dylan looked to Kaos for help.

Kaos stepped forward and mussed his hair. “We’ll have plenty of time to play tomorrow.”

“After school,” I amended.

Kaos smiled. “After school.”

The guys grabbed the bags and we headed upstairs. Dozens of framed photographs covered the wall of the stairwell. Dirty-faced kids throwing up peace signs and sneaking bunny ears behind each other. A giant group gathered in front of Disneyland. Smaller group family photos. Elderly looking grandparent types seated in front of a Christmas tree and surrounded by what had to be generations of kids and grandkids.

“Wow,” I said, taking it all in. “You said your family was big, but… This is all family, right? You didn’t just buy a bunch of frames and keep the stock photos that came with them, did you?”

Kaos chuckled. “Nope. I wish some of them were stock photos, but no. These are all related to me through blood or marriage. Bunch of crazies. To be honest, I joke, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” His smile was proud as he pointed to a dark-haired couple. “These are my parents. I’m sure you’ll meet my mom soon. She likes to pop in from time to time and make sure my fridge is stocked. My cousin shops and cleans for me—and Mom knows this—but I’ve learned life is a lot easier if I let my mom do what she wants.”

I elbowed Dylan, hoping he was paying attention. “You hear that? That’s wisdom right there.”

“Are your parents local?” Kaos asked, watching me.

I didn’t want to talk about such a sad subject. With a family this enormous, he probably had a hard time understanding that some people had no one. It probably seemed strange to him that my family hadn’t stepped in to deal with Matt, or to help me out. I wanted him to understand why. “No. My dad’s… he left shortly after Elenore was born and didn’t look back. Mom died in a car accident when I was fifteen. It’s been me and Elenore ever since. Well, until I got pregnant.”

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