Page 36 of Centering Kaos

“All I’m saying is that I’ve never known Rabbit to take vacation before, but he’s been out all we—”

“None of ourfuckingbusiness,” Tap repeated.

Okay then. Something was clearly up. I looked to Morse, hoping to glean more information, but he was back to typing away and didn’t pay me any mind.

I had so many questions.

But even if Morse was right and Rabbit was hanging out at Elenore’s, he would have to go back to work eventually. So would Elenore. That would leave Tina and Dylan alone at the condo. Not an option.

Truth be told, even if Rabbit quit his job and spent every moment of his life at Elenore’s, I wouldn’t want Tina and Dylan to move out of my house. Despite the torture of being so close to something I wanted but couldn’t have, I enjoyed their company. Every evening, after we picked Dylan up from school, I helped him with his homework while Tina made dinner. Then the three of us played games or watched a movie together. It was a nice, easy, comfortable companionship I could definitely get used to. I didn’t realize how lonely I’d been before they appeared, but now, I couldn’t imagine my house without them in it.

“They’re safer with me,” I said.

Morse snorted.

Tap smirked but didn’t say shit.

The look Hound gave me made it clear I hadn’t fooled him, either.

Having voiced everything I planned to say on the matter, I got the hell out of there.

* * *

Saturday morning, Dylan and I had plans. Since I didn’t want Tina to get cabin fever and go allThe Shiningon me, I arranged for her to get out of the house and have some fun, as well. Just not with me. I wasn’t a fucking masochist, after all.

“Are you sure it’s safe?” Tina asked, her hands resting protectively on Dylan’s shoulders as worry drew lines across her forehead.

“I won’t let anything happen to him,” I assured her.

“It’s safe,” Dylan assured her. “Lots of kids play hockey, Mom. It would be illegal if it wasn’t safe.”

There were serious flaws in the kid’s logic, but I didn’t point them out. Thankfully, neither did Tina. Squeezing her eyes shut, she dropped a kiss on his forehead and released him. He leapt out of her reach like the ref had just released him from the penalty box and he was anxious to get back in the action.

“Be careful,” Tina said.

“Have fun with Carisa, and don’t worry about a thing.” My cousin would be there any minute to take Tina out for a spa day. I didn’t even want to know what the fuck that entailed, but it had been Carisa’s idea.

Dylan and I hurried out the door before his mom could change her mind. He spent the entire drive firing off questions about the sport and talking about how great he was going to be at it. Judging by his enthusiasm, he fully expected to become some kind of hockey prodigy and get drafted into the NHL before finishing grade school. I did my best to ground him in reality without crushing his dreams, but the kid was a goddamn force.

“It’s a lot of work,” I said, parking in front of my buddy’s rink.

“But you did it,” he countered.

“Not until after college, and I worked my ass off to get in. Dylan, nothing in this life worth doin’ is easy. The more work you put in, the greater the rewards.”

He stared at me, cocking his head to the side as he opened his door. “You sound like my PE teacher.”

“You already have physical education?” I got out of the Escalade and rounded the vehicle to help him out. Without waiting for me, he hopped down on his own, shutting the door behind him. “You’re in like… what, second grade?”

He huffed. “Third.”

“You like PE?”

He shrugged and followed me toward the front door. “It’s better than reading, but Mr. White likes to talk too much. Sometimes he says stupid things and I get in trouble for pointing out how stupid they are.”

This kid. So matter of fact about dressing down the adults in his life. Careful to keep my expression neutral, I said, “Yeah? Well, you gotta show adults respect.”

“Why?”

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