Page 75 of The Fallen Man

“Either of those would work,” said Max. “But he literally said no to birthdays. I told him to get a better excuse.”

“OK, yes, but regardless of the birthday situation,” said Dominique. “This is at least the third time I’ve caught him coming back to the house in the morning. And I would have to say that I agree with Evan’s assessment on his usual system, and I have also noted that his usual system doesnotinclude sleeping over.”

“She’s right,” said Aiden. “Sleeping over is relationship-y. Sleeping over means, I don’t mind your cold feet on my leg.”

“Basic signifier of a relationship, right there,” agreed Max.

“My feet get cold,” said Dominique.

“And I don’t mind that you put your ice cubes on my leg,” said Max. “Because I love you.”

“I just turn up the heat,” said Evan.

“Yes, well, Tuesdays are a thing at your house,” said Dominique. “Investing in in-floor heating was clearly a prescient decision on your part.”

“That’s true,” agreed Evan.

“We tried Naked Wednesday at our house,” said Aiden. “We did not care for it.”

Evan looked surprised. “Well, maybe Wednesday is an off day.”

“No, I believe we are fundamentally unsuited for nudity in non-bedroom situations. We have decided not to go that route. We did decide to invest in more lingerie and food delivery options, though, so don’t feel like we’re sad.”

“You bought yourself more lingerie?” asked Dominique, thrown off.

“That depends on what you mean bymyselfand who you think lingerie is really for.”

“Focus, people,” said Max, snapping his fingers. “Jackson. Girlfriend. What do we think?”

“I’m not convinced,” said Aiden. “I’m not saying there isn’t evidence in that direction, but it may not mean what we think it means.”

“He’s made it pretty clear that he’s not interested in anyone we’ve picked out,” Evan said.

“Wait,” said Dominique. “I know.” She went to the door and stuck her head out. “Theo!” She tried to whisper and yell simultaneously, and it came out as a hoarse croak. But Theo promptly poked his head out of the kitchen hall.

“Yes?”

She waved her hand frantically. Theo came into the drawing room with a cautious expression that was at odds with his festive green Christmas sweater with fuzzy pom-poms. She eased the door shut behind him and pushed him into the room.

“Is there a problem?” asked Theo, looking the boys over.

“I believe Dominique is trying to covertly discover if Jackson has been seeing anyone,” said Evan.

“Well,” said Theo, “I believe we all know that he would never bring anyone back here.”

“He wouldn’t?” asked Evan.

“I believe that he feels Sunday dinners are sacred, Mr. Deveraux,” said Theo, “and I believe he would never like to give anyone the impression that they have a chance of attending when they don’t.”

“That makes sense,” said Evan.

“Only if you’re a Deveraux,” said Max. “But OK. So he hasn’t been bringing anyone home?”

“Yes, but,” Theo leaned in and lowered his voice, “I would say that, on average, he has only been spending three to four nights at home per week for over a month.”

“Half his time,” said Aiden. “That’s… I mean…”

“That’s a relationship,” said Max.