Page 3 of Learning to Run

That would’ve been messy and it was my turn to vacuum again.

“Should we take bets about who’s going to be our hostageguest speaker?” I had no idea who it could be, but Cash was smart, so he’dprobably already guessed.

And if I lost a blow job bet to him, I wouldn’t complain…soit’d be a win either way.

He didn’t have enough time to guess, though, because Judewhipped the door open like it was going to explode. “Thank you for coming.”

Oh.

Brady’s mom.

“Hi, Brady’s mom.” She always smiled when I said it likethat. But she’d been just Brady’s mom for so long that it was hard to remembershe had a real name. Brady had just called her Mom for the first year we’dknown him.

He’d forgotten she had a real name too.

“Hello, darlings.” She came in smiling and looking aroundlike she was happy we remembered to keep the couch pillows looking nice. “Itseems like you’re driving poor Jude crazy.”

Right to the point.

“Do you know why?” Her smile had me hoping that she did, butshe could smile through anything. She even seemed to like going to Walmart witha thousand kids.

Oh, the kids.

She was happy because she was actually alone.

Cash laughed, probably realizing why she was happy too. “Ithink she does.”

She just smiled even wider and gave Jude a quick hug as shewalked in. “I do. Let’s talk about that.”

Oh, there was Brady too.

As he came in behind her, Jude took a deep breath. “Theykept accusing me of kidnapping them.”

“Well, actually it was holding us hostage, but I don’t knowif there’s a difference.” As I shrugged, still not sure about the technicaldefinitions, Brady sighed.

“Sorry, Daddy.” He kissed Jude’s cheek, knowing he could usehis cheat way of making Jude less nuts. “Thank you for being so patient.”

Brady’s mom giggled, so she knew Brady was full of hot airtoo.

But it wouldn’t be polite to point that out, so we stayedquiet as she came over and made us move apart so she could sit between us onthe couch. When she was all settled and holding our hands, and Brady wasperched on Jude’s lap as the silly Dom pouted over something, she took a breath.

That wasn’t good.

“We didn’t do anything wrong. We’ve been polite and we’vedone our homework and our chores. I’ve even done Brady’s too because he trickedme and I forgot to tell Bates it happened again so he could protect me fromBrady.” After being held hostage, I decided tossing Brady under the bus wasfair.

Cash snickered as Brady huffed and looked offended.“Tattletale.”

Maybe, but he hadn’t been held hostage.

“It sounds like you’re very fond of Bates.” She smiled,looking back and forth between me and Cash. “Would he save you from beingBradied?”

“Yes.” Cash ignored Brady’s pout and nodded. “He’s very goodat taking care of us.”

“There’s an us. In case you didn’t know.” I figuredBrady had tattled, but I wasn’t sure until she nodded. “He decided me and Cashshould date too so we’re all dating together.”

I wasn’t sure if she knew how fast he’d realized that, so Ikept explaining.

“He’s smart too.” Hmm, I might’ve left out the importantbits. “And not just because he knew we should date right away. He’s, like, mathsmart, not just people smart.”

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