“Don’t you dare!”
“It’s too late.”
“You will pay for that! I’m going to say something to Jenna.”
“I don’t even like her like that. Jenna’s just a friend. She’s like… we’ve known each other since we were five. She’s like a sister to me.”
“Good,” Waylon says as he smacks the crown on Cam and snaps a picture before he can stop him.
“DON’T!”
“Too late.”
There’s something about seeing Waylon act like a goofy teenager that makes me feel happy. I don’t think he got to do that very often while growing up. I think he was always forced to act like an adult… reserved and questioning what life might throw at him. But fighting over a picture while wearing a crown? Talking about girls?
It’s obvious Waylon is starting to adjust to a life that isn’t as stressful, and I’m so happy we’ve played a part in that.
I turn to Leland, who looks far too pleased while he drives. “Are you proud of yourself for forcing them to bully each other?”
“I am. It’s odd… but I am. I actually regret not getting the sash too. I was just like ‘Is it too much?’ but it wasn’t too much,” he says as he drives for a bit before pulling into a restaurant. The place looks a bit fancy to take some teens to, but I see why Leland brought them in when the menu depicts making pretty much everything into some kind of fondue masterpiece. And I realize that Leland will spare no expense to make sure Waylon has the best sleepover he could ever have.
Leland has more money than he knows what to do with, so I think he’s quite happy getting to spend it on someone he cares about.
THREE
LELAND
“Did I do enough?” I whisper as I lie sprawled out on the couch at the end of the day. “This was more exhausting than that day I had to hunt down this man who was an elusive recluse who’d taken out seven people without his face ever being seen.”
“Yeah? Do you think that maybe after the skydiving and the steak fondue place, we didn’t also have to go to the movies, an arcade,andthe video game store?”
“No… we had to do it all,” I say. “We had to show Cam that we are better parents than his.”
“Isthat why you did all of that?” Jackson asks, like he’s skeptical of my reasoning.
“Yes.”
He raises a beautiful eyebrow that I choose to ignore. Really, he shouldn’t decide things for me.
“I’m going to let the dogs out and head to bed. You ready for bed?” I ask, in the hope of distracting him from any further questions.
“Yeah.”
I get up and head to the back door as I call to the dogs. Cayenne often sleeps in Waylon’s room, which started after Irealized that it made Waylon feel significantly better to have her around and began closing her in with him. Now she chooses to sleep with him quite often, since he bribes her with belly rubs and the occasional snack. But I think the boys are finally playing video games, so she’s chilling with us.
I send both dogs out into the backyard and grab a glass for water when I see Waylon come down.
“Can I get some cookies?” he asks.
“You know you don’t have to ask.”
“Yeah but… I don’t know…” He trails off.
“This is your house too, Waylon,” I say as I fill the glass with water. “You can do whatever you want as long as you don’t do something unsafe… or go into the basement.”
“I don’t want to go in the basement!” he protests.
Sometimes I wonder what he thinks we have down there.
