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“Nope.”He smiled.“But Raphael offered to teach me.”

I licked my lips.“Raphael makes amazing cookies.”

“I’ll bet they do.Alas, I wasn’t turning on an oven while babysitting.That was a step too far.”He tried to smooth out his cotton shirt.

A hopeless cause.

“Let’s get you home.You can shower and then…head to bed?”

He let out a long sigh of relief.“Yes, please.That.”He wiped his face with his hand.“I slept badly last night and am exhausted.You must be running on fumes.”

“Yeah, I kind of am.But I got most of what I needed done today.There’ll be cleanup for the next two weeks, but I’ll manage.”

“Two weeks?”

“I’ll tell you about it on the ride home.”

“Home.”He sighed the word.“I adore Marcie and the kids, but I think I’m done for the day.If she needs me tomorrow?—”

“Raphael has school and Thaddeus has daycare.If all goes well, Marcie and I will be able to get Mom home and settled in that time.Now, what do you plan to do tomorrow?”

“Rest?”

I clapped him on the back.“Absolutely legitimate.”

We stepped out of the laundry room just in time for Marcie to arrive.

She spent five minutes listening to Phillip recount every moment of the day.All three of us were exhausted, but clearly Phillip felt he needed to justify all the little decisions he’d made.

As far as I was concerned, he’d done brilliantly.Two unharmed children in bed.A dog who was almost dry.The house put to rights.

Marcie felt the same way as she asked Phillip if she could hug him.

Whether he felt turning her down was rude, or if he saw how much she needed the reassurance, he offered it freely.

Huh.Maybe he needs the reassurance as well.I made a note to tell him repeatedly what a great job he’d done.Without question, few people had taken the time to praise him in his short life.He deserved all the praise.

On the way home, I brought him up to speed on the Omar, Andreas, Valentino, and Norah fiasco.

He made appropriate noises of sympathy.Does he understand?Sometimes he seems very clear-eyed about the world, and other times he seems naïve.

At home, I put everything back in what I now thought of as Phillip’s room.

To my relief, he took a hot shower and dressed in the overlarge pajamas.He’d shivered in the car, despite my jacking up the heat.

I didn’t see how someone in SoCal could get cold in what was now eighty-degree heat…but Phillip had managed.

“Would you like something warm to drink?Hot chocolate?Herbal tea?”

Slowly, he shook his head.“I think…I’d like a hug and then to go to bed.”He pinkened.“I mean in my room.And you in your room.Not together, like, because that would be all kinds of weird, and you’re not interested in me that way, and?—”

“The hell I’m not.But are you interested in me that way?”I asked the question before my brain-to-mouth filter could kick in.I hadn’t meant to put him on the spot.That wassonot my intention.

“Of course I am.”He blurted out the words.Then bit his lip as if he wanted to take them back.

Why not take a chance?

Because he might feel uncomfortable and want to leave.Where would he go?