Page 56 of Needing Your Love
I made it through the day by finishing painting Dad’s house with music blasting to keep my mind from spiraling and contacted the realtor.
Tuesday, we did a walkthrough and talked numbers, deciding on an open house Saturday and Sunday.
With nothing to do on Wednesday, I stayed in bed until close to noon and drank coffee from The Moose rather than walking downtown past the station for one of Kel’s scones and a latte. I drove down to Berlin to do a little shopping and ate at a restaurant’s bar by myself, ignoring the guy who’d hit on me.
Thursday, I slept even later, my mind nose-diving to the point I didn’t even want to get out of bed, but Gram called, telling me DJ had gotten in trouble at school. Kurt hadn’t been able to leave work, so she’d picked up her grandson and had taken him back to her place since she couldn’t get a hold of his mom either.
I agreed to hang out with them, try to get the boy out of his petulant funk, as she’d called his attitude.
DJ sat on the couch, arms crossed and scowling when I arrived at Gram’s.
“Good luck,” she whispered and left us alone, heading to the kitchen to make us a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
“What’s going on, buddy?” I asked, ruffling DJ’s hair and sitting beside him.
He jerked away from me, but wetness filled his eyes.
“Gram said there was some trouble at school,” I said. “Want to talk about it?”
“Why? So you can be like Dad and tell me how I need towise up or else?” The kid even made quotation marks with both hands.
I sagged into the couch. “I would never say something like that to you.”
DJ hung his head, a tear sliding down his cheek. He sniffed and swiped his shoulder over his face. “Austin said my dad’s trying to steal his mom from their family.”
I had no fucking clue what the hell he was saying.
“I called him a liar and punched him in the nose.”
I had to admire DJ for sticking up for his dad even if the asshole didn’t deserve his son’s loyalty or love.
“Dad’s gonna be pissed that I got in trouble—won’t even care that I had his back!”
Unsure what to say, I tugged DJ into my side, and he huddled close, reminding me so much of myself when clinging to Sutton in my childhood that my throat tightened, and I had to blink against threatening tears.
We sat in silence together, and I wished I had the perfect advice to give DJ, but all I knew how to do in the face of danger was freeze like a coward. At least I now had control over my bladder unlike when I’d been a kid.
“Want to try to defeat Dr. Eggman?” I suggested a distraction.
“Yeah!” DJ hopped up to turn on the TV and Xbox. “Dibs on Sonic!”
“I’ll be Knuckles,” I said with a chuckle and settled in to keep DJ’s thoughts from the day’s not-so-great events or possible fallout after Kurt found out about the altercation.
Gram offered to cook dinner for us, but I told her not to bother, deciding to take DJ to Dig-In for a burger and fries. She opted to stay home—the cold made her bones ache—so the two of us boys drove downtown and parked in the lot.
DJ scooted on antsy feet to the diner’s red door, chatting about the boat he’d built on Roblox while at his mom’s over the weekend. His detailed descriptions about redeeming codes, getting gold, and using portals baffled me, but the excited waving of his hands instead of tucking into his food a short while later kept a smile on my face.
Jamie walked in halfway through our dinner, screeching my mind to a halt like a needle over a vinyl.
Sutton followed, and like he wore a honing device, his head snapped our way, gaze landing on my face. As usual, I couldn’t read a single one of his thoughts because he didn’t react to my presence. Of course, he’d seen my car out front, but I had no such heads up and couldn’t help the jolt that ripped through me or the widening of my eyes before I could settle myself and fix my own mask firmly into place.
DJ spun in his seat to see what had caught my attention. “Chief!” He waved, ants in his pants again.
A gentle smile curved Sutton’s mouth for the boy as he lifted his hand in return, and I couldn’t help the jealousy that snaked through my guts.
Stars lit DJ’s eyes when he turned back around. “I’m going to be a cop just like Chief Forrester when I’m older,” he said, grabbing a fry and dunking it in ketchup. “I’ll put bad guys in jail where they can’t hurt anybody.”
“Cops are the best thing ever,” I said, fighting to keep my attention on DJ as Jamie and Sutton sat at the opposite end ofthe diner. Awareness of Sutton being in close proximity caused the hairs on my arms to stand at attention, even if he ignored me as I attempted to do with him. “They’re protective,” I whispered past the tightening in my chest. “Helpful. Kind.”
