Page 3 of Run Away Home: Tempered

“I can do it,” he adds. “Where else will he go when you...”

He doesn’t finish his sentence. Is that what this entire year has been leading up to? One question? I really am proud. If that’s it, he’s worked very hard to prove himself to me.

“I already told him he can come with me. He wants to come with me. Plus, I’ll have Hayley, and we... We can do it.”

I still haven’t responded. I don’t know how I feel. The thought ofbothHayley and Danny in the same home, and Peter being responsible for themboth? Will he ever listen to me about her?

“How does she feel about that, Peter? Helping out with Danny?”

“I don’t know. She’ll be fine with it.”

I don’t agree with that. I don’t think she’ll like the idea very much at all.

“I’d think about it some more, Peter. You should speak with Hayley about your plans.”

“Yeah. I’ll talk to her.”

He leans back in his chair. I examine him closely. The tiniest smile forms in the corner of his mouth. I know how he feels about her. He’ll never admit it, especially to me. He calls Danny his brother, but her? He doesn’t call her his “sister.”

I clutch his hand again, tighter this time, and I look into his eyes. He’s a man now, and he’s matured a great deal. Maybe I should trust him?

Danny

“DID YOU SEND IN THEdeposit?” Peter asks.

“No, I thought you were doing that,” Hayley says.

Hayley’s washing the dishes, and I’m drying. She kinda sucks at it. Maybe that’s why she never does anything. Maybe she just sucks at everything. Almost every plate still has tomato sauce spots. I scrape them off with my fingernail. Nasty.

I lean my butt against the cabinets and look at Peter. He’s sitting at the kitchen table, frowning at his laptop.

“Hayley, you said you would pay the security deposit.”

“Hayley, you said you would pay the security deposit,” she mocks him with a bad Scottish accent. Yup, she does suck at everything.EspeciallyScottish accents.

Peter rolls his eyes. “Knock it off.” He doesn’t sound as Scottish this time.

She stops washing, dropping the cup she’s working on back into the sink. She turns around to glare at him.

“I don’t have it.”

“We need to pay it before we move in next week.”

“Can you just cover it, Peter?”

“Yeah, I guess, but then can you do the first month’s rent?”

I’m just watching and listening. I know why Hayley doesn’t have the money. Peter thinks I don’t understand, but I’m not dumb like he thinks I am.

Hayley turns back around and continues “washing” the dishes—if that’s what you want to call it.

“I’ll pay the first month, if I can come up with it somehow.”

“All right.”

“Even though you’re getting everything,” she says.

Oh boy. Here we go.

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