“You’re the oldest. You have the most life experience. I’m not saying Wyatt isn’t an adult, but he’s still naïve and inexperienced.”
“Okay…?”
“And Lettie, well, you know Lettie.” Del smiled lovingly. “She’s amazing, but she’s also very black and white in her thinking.”
“Right.” Izzy started to grate the humongous block of cheese again.
“So if something happens or some decision needs to be made that would be something Justin or I would handle, it’s your job. If you’re unsure and there’s time, you call us first.”
He had to stop grating then, because he felt choked up. “A-are you sure you want to put that responsibility into my hands? Wouldn’t there be someone e-else? Better suited? More…reliable?”
Del stopped what he was doing and turned to peer at Izzy who was trying to hide from Del’s gaze.
“Izzy, I’m trusting you with my son’s heart. His well-being. My kids are my everything. If I’m trusting them to your care, don’t you think you’ve earned that trust already?” Del closed the gap between the counter and the island and put his hand on Izzy’s shoulder. “Look, I know Justin is…He can be a tough nut to crack when it comes to family. I don’t know how much Wyatt’s told you, but the situation they grew up in, it was…” Del turned his head and sighed. When he looked back at Izzy, there were tears in his eyes. “Justin grew up in a drug den. Then he managed to get away. Their mom dying meant going back to that place to try and save his siblings. Nobody knows better what it was like to not have any safety growing up. Nobody knows more of that than Justin, because he lived it. He’s so damn determined that the kids don’t have to face any part of that life ever again, that he’s become almost too strict about some aspects of it all.”
“Like the weed.”
“Yes, like the weed. Alcohol is the same. In this family, nobody smokes weed and we only have a glass of wine or a bottle of beer sometimes, because the fears Justin has are in his psyche, and no amount of therapy will fully clear it.” Del had pulled his hand off Izzy, but now put it back and squeezed. “Who do you think he wants to protect more, himself or his siblings?”
Izzy nodded. “He’s overprotective because he’s seen what it can do.”
“Yes. I’ve never had that sort of experience with life. My family didn’t have those issues.” Del turned away and went back to chopping something. “What I’m saying is this: I trust you with my family, because you’re more like Justin than you think, and that’s exactly why he can’t let go of his own prejudices.”
Izzy finally understood. “He sees in me what he escaped. I’m what he could’ve become, if things had gone differently.”
“Bingo.”
Izzy hadn’t thought of it like that, but maybe he understood everything better now. They quietly prepared more of the pizza toppings and Del asked him to tell his opinion about the tomato sauce he had simmering, and it felt so achingly domestic it was almost too much, but not quite.
* * * *
Couple of days later, the package arrived. It was waiting on the trailer porch when Izzy got home from work. To his utter surprise, Sam, who’d had a day off smirked at him.
Izzy frowned. “What?”
“I know what’s in that package.”
Izzy flushed red. Then he swallowed the “it’s not for me” that wanted to bubble out. There was nothing to be embarrassed about.
“I know because a friend of mine orders stuff from there, too,” Sam clarified. “So I take it I should clear out for tonight, maybe?”
Izzy scratched his scruffy cheek and nodded. “If it’s not too much to ask. I know it’s a work night, but…”
“Hey, I don’t want Wyatt to feel nervous about me barging in. So I’ll go stay at Patty’s in town or something. It’ll be fine.”
“I need to figure out how to pay you back somehow.”
“No, you don’t. This is what friendships are supposed to be like, man. Just…get me an Amazon gift card for Christmas or something.”
“Will do.” Izzy felt grateful as hell. He just hoped Wyatt would like his presents.
Wyatt arrived after Sam had left. He was carrying some food with him—apparently Del had gone on a stress-cooking spree again—and they had dinner first.
“Okay, Izzy, what’s going on? You’re making me nervous.”
Izzy put away the dish towel and turned around. “There’s a box on my bed. It’s for you, but I don’t know how you’ll react, so…I guess I’m nervous.”
Wyatt tilted his head. He was having a somewhere-in-between day today from what Izzy could tell.
