“Emily tried to hold my hand in the lunch line, but I jerked it away before anyone could see.”Jed chanced a glance and saw him frowning.
“You know, when you grow up, you’re going to want to hold hands with girls.”
“No.No way.”Oliver looked at him like he thought Jed was nuts and shook his head.
“Yep.And you’ll want to kiss them, too.”
“Oh my gosh!I am never kissing a girl!”
Jed rolled his lips inward to keep from laughing.He was sure Oliver’s reaction to the news that he was going to grow up and like girls was a universal reaction to all little boys.And like every little boy before him that turned into a horny teenager, he was going to really, really like girls when he got older.
“Hey, does your Aunt Sadie get a lot of bad headaches?”
“Um.Sometimes.She usually takes some medicine and then a nap, and it goes away.”
“And does she get them often?”
“I think she gets them when she’s really tired or really, really stressed.”He shrugged a shoulder.“At least, that’s what Dad used to say.”
He made a turn into the alley behind Ink Envy and pulled his car in next to Sadie’s.Oliver reached for his seatbelt buckle to release it as Jed said, “Try to be quiet when we go inside in case Sadie is still sleeping.”
They climbed the stairs together, then knocked lightly on the door.Chris let them in and stepped back.“She’s still sleeping,” he volunteered before Jed could ask, then dropped to a squat in front of Oliver and asked, “How did you like riding in Jed’s car?”
“Ilovedit!I wanna do it again!It’s just like my car.”He raced over to his pile of toy cars and pulled out the one he was talking about to show Chris.“See!It’s just like mine.”
Chris took the car and got a closer look.“You know, it is just like Jed’s.That is so cool.”
“Huh.”Jed accepted the car when he handed it over.“It does look just like my car.”He handed it back to Oliver.
“I’m never giving this car away.I’m keeping it forever.”
The funny thing was, Jed believed him.
After Chris left, Jed got Oliver a snack and turned on a kids' TV show to kill time until Sadie woke up.Around four o’clock, Sadie came rushing down the hall only to pull up short when she saw Oliver playing on the floor.She looked from her nephew to Jed and back again.
“You looked like you needed the sleep, so I went and picked him up.Chris came up and sat with you until we got back.”He didn’t want her to think that he’d completely abandoned her after what occurred in her apartment earlier.
“Oh.Okay.Thank you.”Her hair was a wild mess around her shoulders, but it didn’t look bad.In fact, he imagined it would look something like that if it were sex hair.
“Sadie!You’re up!Guess what?!”He bounced up and down in front of her.
“What?”
“I got to ride in Jed’s car!The one just like mine!”He held up said car for her to see, just in case she couldn’t remember what car he was talking about.
“That’s awesome, honey.”Sadie looked up and pinned Jed to his seat.“Why don’t you go ahead and play with your cars while I talk to Jed in the other room?”
He got up and followed behind her.Surprisingly, she led them to her bedroom.She pushed the door mostly closed, then asked, “How were you able to pick up Oliver?”
“Trick texted Lindsey for me to make sure I was able to pick him up.”He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Why would you do that?!Why would you go pick him up instead of waking me up so I could go?”Her hands fisted at her sides, and he wondered if she was thinking about hitting him.
Was she mad at him?He didn’t get it.He was trying to do her a favor.“You had a bad headache and refused to take anything for it when I offered to buy you something.Oliver says they’re really bad when you don’t get enough sleep or you’re under a lot of stress.Obviously, this morning took its toll on you.I was trying to be nice by picking up Oliver for you so you could keep sleeping until your headache was gone.”Was she always this ungrateful when someone tried to help her out?
“I can’t believe the school let you take Oliver.”Her hand went to her forehead as she turned to pace away and back again.“They shouldn’t have let you take him.You’re not on the pick-up list.I thought he would be safe in Redemption.I thought the school wouldn’t let just anyone pick him up.”
She appeared to be working herself up, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d be flat on her back with another headache.“What’s this really about, Sadie?Why are you so upset?”
