Although even on the weeks I don’t have Katie, I usually end up picking her up from school at least two or three days a week because of last-minute calls from Jerilyn asking me to get Katie and bring her to Jerilyn’s office.
Lucas appears deep in thought, so the three of us let the silence sit for a moment while he works stuff out in his head.
Then he slowly nods. “Can I ask for something?”
“Depends on what it is,” Zoey says.
“Can we finally have a pool?” he asks.
“I was kind of hoping that myself.” Zoey smiles. “We hadn’t even got that far.”
Yeah, pool sex is on my wish list, too. And a hot tub.
“And can we have an extra guest room so Caine can spend the night sometimes?” Lucas asks.
I want to erupt in nervous laughter but I keep silent.
“Sure,” Arlo says. “He’s got to promise to keep this quiet from Katie, too. And from Jerilyn. And, preferably, from his parents. Our private life isn’t their business, anyway.”
I can almost read Arlo’s thoughts, that we damn well know Caine wouldn’t be sleeping in his guest bed if he was spending the night. At least, not all night, probably.
I’m damn sure not going to stop the two of them. They’re both sixteen. Caine’s turning seventeen in a month or two, if I’m not mistaken.
“What are we going to tell Jerilyn about why Nolan’s living with us?” Lucas looks at me when he asks it.
Again, I don’t dare to hope. Before the shit hit the fan two years ago, I would have thought we were tight. He seemed to enjoy doing things with the three of us.
“That’s up to Nolan,” Arlo says, also looking at me.
I’m such a damned sucker for Arlo’s blue fricking eyes.
I always have been.
Taking a sip of tea to buy myself a little time, I think about it. It’s something that’s been running through my head ever since Arlo and I had lunch on Wednesday. “The partial truth,” I finally say. “That it doesn’t make sense for me to pay for an apartment. Arlo and Zoey and I are friends. We’ll have a contract regarding the house. That if something ever happens, I could buy them out, or they could buy me out.
“I can’t afford to buy a house on my own right now, and Jeri knows it. Living with them also means I’ve got two more sets of eyes to help me look after Katie. Three, including you. Then, there’s the logistics. It’s closer to my work and to Katie’s school. None of those things are a lie. When Katie’s with us, we’ll be careful around her, obviously. Just like we are now.”
Lucas slowly nods again. “It’d be closer to Caine’s house, too, wouldn’t it?”
Zoey’s laugh slices through the building tension in the air. “Yes, it is closer. This isreallyimportant to us, sweetie. We’ve been doing this already for four years and you didn’t know.”
Lucas nods. “Okay.” He looks to me, then Zoey. “I promise I won’t say anything.”
“Especially not to Bill,” Arlo adds. I can tell from his tone he’s still feeling enraged over what happened. Figures Bill pulled that stunt when I wasn’t here.
Lucas scoffs. “I don’t ever want to talk to him again,” he quietly says.
I decide to go there, since I know it’s heavily weighed on Zoey’s soul for the past two years. “Why did you move in with Bill, anyway? What happened? Did we do something?” I don’t believethat, but I throw it out there, anyway.
Now Lucas can’t look at us and I know he’s feeling ashamed. I can see all his tells. Hell, I’ve known the kid most of his life. I might as well be a second dad to him.
“He told me he had cancer,” he admits. “And his girlfriend left him then. I didn’t know back then that he was cheating on her.”
Zoey sits forward, frowning. “Wait. Bill hascancer?”
Lucas snorts again and finally looks at her. “Skincancer, it turns out. Not even the bad kind. He had like three small spots removed from his back by the dermatologist. When he told me about it, he made it sound like he was dying. He cried and everything.Beggedme not to leave him alone. This whole…production. By the time I knew what was really going on, it was too late, and I’d already moved in with him. Looking back on it, I can see the way he set it up to manipulate me. Once he knew he had me there full-time, he went back to his usual bullshit.”
He shoves his food around his plate with his fork. “I felt too ashamed for falling for it to admit it to you. I didn’t even know if you’d believe me at that point. I kinda figured I deserved to be stuck there after having you waste that money. Then it got harder to ask him to let me come visit. He’d always have an excuse why I had to stay home any given weekend, or he’d change stuff at the last minute and say I couldn’t go. Use it as punishment for something, making me stay home. The past six months, the only reason I’ve been able to come visit is because Mary basically made him let me come and drove me herself. I’m sorry, Mom. I really screwed up.”
