I knew I had one myself. Along with the bite on my shoulder. I rotated that shoulder, not sure if I liked the…uh, love bite or not. In the heat of the moment, heck yes, I had.
I shook that thought from my mind.
“Can we eat breakfast first?” Emery asked, voice small. His eyes refused to meet mine.
“Sure. If that’s what you want.” I highly doubted he would. Emery was not the type to eat if he was stressed.
I was glad he was putting on a bit of healthy weight while in my care, though. He was no longer just skin and bones.
“We’ll be there soon.” Enzo stopped beside Emery, laying a hand on his shoulder.
I gave them a nod, knowing they’d come out in a few minutes.
Back in the kitchen, I finished up the pancakes Enzo had been working on.
At least now, his grumpy morning made more sense. Pent-up emotions and thoughts.
Just as I finished making the last pancake, plating it on the stack, both of the boys came walking out. Emery still refused to look my way as he sat. Enzo sat beside him, seeming like nothing had happened between us less than thirty minutes ago.
As I gathered, Emery pushed his food around his plate, mulling in his thoughts. Enzo dug right in.
I waited until they were both finished, because Emery had requested as much, before pushing my plate out of the way.
“Emery?” I called, hoping he’d grace me with his eyes. No such luck. He only froze, pausing his pushing of the soggy food around.
“He’s not gonna answer you,” Enzo huffed. “He knows what happened."
“Do you really know what happened, Emery?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him.
I got a shrug.
“He’s fine with it.”
“I’d like to hear Emery say it, or anything for that matter.” I flickered my eyes towards him, silently telling him to shut his mouth for a moment. Thankfully, Enzo must have gotten the message.
“You two can do whatever.” The words, although quiet, were hiding his true thoughts. It was like he had shut off that part of himself.
“Come here.” I patted my lap, then waited a moment while the words sunk in.
Slowly, as though Emery was more fearful than anything else right then, he moved and took a seat on my lap. Almost instantly, his shoulders relaxed as he leaned against my hold.
“Tell me what you think happened?” I shot another look at Enzo, to make sure he’d keep quiet. I wanted to hear what Emery thought really happened.
“You fought.”
“Yes. That can, and will happen when we all live under the same roof.”
“I saw you…and him…” Emery pressed his face into my neck.
“We didn’t hurt each other.” Not the way he was used to.
Emery nodded against me.
“Geez. It’s not like we got married. It was a freaking hand job,” Enzo muttered, pushing away from the table.
At his words, Emery sighed. Lifting his chin with one of my fingers, I finally got him to look at me. Even though he defiantly had been crying, or near to at one point in time today, he was still an open book.
I wanted to point out that whatever happened between me and Enzo out on the porch was much better than a simple hand job. But, right now was not the time to say anything like that. Least of all until I knew how Emery felt about it all.
