He was just reaching for the milk when the front door slammed. Finn jerked and spun toward the hallway. He was positive he hadn’t heard Robbie come down the stairs, so—
Sawyer stood in the kitchen doorway, pale and staring at Finn with wide eyes. “Finn?” He took in Finn’s outfit—or lack thereof—then seemed to push thoughts of Finn away, because the next words out of his trembling mouth were, “Where—Robbie—I need—”
Finn didn’t hesitate. Didn’t think. “Robbie! He’s upstairs. Robbie!”
“Wha—” Robbie came barreling into the kitchen from the other end. “Finn, are you—Sawyer? What?”
“Robbie,” Sawyer whined and reached, and Robbie loped across the kitchen to pull Sawyer into his arms.
“What is it? What happened?”
Sawyer sobbed.
“You’re trembling. Are you hurt? Baby, talk to me.”
Frozen, Finn stayed where he was, watching the drama unfold. He felt like a creep, an outsider, but he couldn’t make his feet move. Worry kept him pinned to the spot.
What if they needed him?
“They— They— What do they mean?”
Robbie froze, then pulled back and gripped Sawyer by the shoulders to catch his gaze. “What happened?” He spokesoftly but clearly, a gentle command that had Sawyer popping to attention.
“DM on TikTok. Deborah said—she sent—there was a petition to adopt!” Sawyer all but wailed the last part, and Robbie pulled him against his chest.
Deborah? That must be Robbie’s mother.
“Never! They’ve asked for you, but they can’t have you.”
“I can’t go to them.” Sawyer buried his face in Robbie’s chest. Finn wanted to cry too. “They called me—me—” The last word was garbled against Robbie’s chest, but Finn could make out the name he hadn’t been able to remember all those months ago. Those bastards. They deadnamed their grandchild when asking to adopt him?
“You’re mine, okay? Eugene called and we are gonna fight ’em tooth and nail, because you belong here. You are my kid, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you, you hear me?” Sawyer sniffled and clutched at Robbie, who rubbed his back and cradled his head. “Eugene and I will drown them in paperwork and lawyers’ fees and keep them tied up for four years if we have to.”
Sawyer hiccupped.
“But we probably won’t, because the judge is gonna care what you think. They’ll care that you want to be here.”
“But what if they don’t?”
“Then Eugene is going to exercise his filing muscles so he can appeal and get you home to me. And if that fails, then I’ll kidnap you and we can run away to… to… fuck, I don’t know, wherever we can go so no one can take you away from me.”
Sawyer snorted wetly. “That’s so dumb, Robbie. You’d be stuck on the run forever.”
“What, don’t think I can survive life on the lam?”
“Robbie.” Sawyer pulled back just enough to peer up at his uncle. His cheeks were red and his eyes wet, but he looked steadier already. A kid who knew everything would be all right because his dad said so. “Only reason you never got left behind in LA or ended up in Yellowknife instead of Edmonton is because the NHL babysat your road trips.”
With a dramatic gasp, Robbie squished his kid and cried, “Slander! Outrage!”
Another hiccupping laugh. Sawyer snuggled his face into Robbie’s chest, definitely wiping tears and probably snot on his T-shirt, but Robbie didn’t seem to notice.
Finn was starting to think he should make his escape. Clearly neither Robbie nor Sawyer needed him right now. Crisis averted. Maybe if Finn was fast enough, Sawyer would forget he ever saw him there.
“Hey, Robbie?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“Why is Finn standing in your kitchen before eight a.m. in your underwear?”
