Page 17 of Night of the Living Manny
“Yeah. She died, you know. My mom.”
“I’m sorry. Your dad says she was a neat lady.”
“Yeah. She was. You like video games?” Peter’s mind moved like lightning, even at this late hour.
“I do. I love them.” Brenden fell right back to solid ground.
“Me too. What do you play?”
“I can play any of the shooter games. Soldiers, zombies, auto thieves.”
Peter lit right up. “Cool. You want to….”
“Buddy.” Liam’s voice was husky. “It’s late, kiddo. Tomorrow maybe?”
“Sure.” Peter beamed at him, then wiped his peanut butter fingers on his pants. “I gotta go sleep.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” He smiled at Liam. “Should I put Britt to bed?”
“Can you? I’ll take Susanna. She has terrible nightmares, and you might scare her since she doesn’t know you.”
“You got it.” Brenden rose so he could gently lift Brittany into his arms. Brittany wrapped her arms around his neck, easy as she could be. She was so trusting, so sweet.
He carried her to the bathroom so she could do her thing and brush her teeth, then called up Moose. She would want to read to him, maybe. She was mostly asleep on her feet, and he tucked her right in.
He checked on Pete, who was reading in bed, then looked in from the hall on Susanna, who was with her dad. He was stroking her back, encouraging her back to sleep.
Brenden tiptoed away, waving a hand to bring Moose to him. “Let’s go potty and close up, buddy.” The TV was still on, he knew, and there were some dishes. He needed to potter and ponder stuff.
He felt like he was already part of the family, somehow. Brenden let Moose outside, let him back in, locked the door…. Okay, clean up.
Liam came in, tossing the beer and soda bottles, helping easily. In fact, they moved around the den and kitchen easily enough to give him a couple of nice, if too hot to share, fantasies.
“Thank you for tonight. It felt… real,” Liam said quietly.
He stopped, turning to look at Liam. “It did. I had a ball. You’re an amazing family. I’m already feeling like part of the group.”
“That’s usually when everything goes to hell, you know?”
“I know.” He laughed a little. “I still appreciate how wonderful you are.” Brenden could take on anything. He really could.
“Thank you. Seriously. They’re good kids.”
“I think you’re a good guy too.” His cheeks heated, but he had to say it. Liam did it for him, and Brenden didn’t want to pretend otherwise, even if he never pushed it.
Liam blushed, smiled. “Thank you.”
They stood there staring for a long while. Finally Brenden cleared his throat. “I imagine you’ll be up early. We ought to go to bed. Beds.”
“Uh-huh. We should.” Liam blinked, then nodded. “Right. Bed.”
“Okay. Well.” He shifted from foot to foot until Moose licked his hand. “Right.”
“Night, Brenden. Sleep well.”
“Good night.” He headed up to his room, Moose on his heels, no doubt wanting his nighttime cookie. He was sad the night had to end, though.
Of course, it was the first of a bunch of evenings, wasn’t it?
