“All right,” she agreed, “Gus-Gus walks.” Gus was still deep in his angsty period. Referring to himself in the third person was new. She let him slide to the floor. “Come on.”
Junie beat Shiloh to the door and opened it—and Ryan, predictably, walked right in. “Hey!” he shouted, with his arms open. “Here come the beautiful people!”
“Daddy, we haven’t eaten breakfast,” Junie said. The little narc.
“Well, let’s get you some breakfast,” he said. “We’re going right to the zoo.”
There was no way for Shiloh to stand between them and Cary. Shewas stuck on the stairs behind Gus. So she very deliberately didn’t look toward the living room. “They’re all ready to go, Ryan. Why don’t you get them packed up, and I’ll grab some bananas?”
It was too little, too late.
“Cary?!” Junie shouted, pressing both hands on her cheeksHome Alone–style. “Are you sleeping atmyhouse!?”
Cary had sat up, but his legs were under the blanket. He was wearing an undershirt. He still looked exhausted.
Ryan was staring at him, one eyebrow stuck in a raised position.
“Oh my lord,” Junie said. “You’re like Goldilocks, and I’m like Baby Bear.”
“Cary...” Ryan said. “You’reCary.”
“Hi,” Cary said, not smiling.
Ryan grinned and took a step forward, holding out his hand. “Cary of the full-page yearbook letter.”
“Hi,” Cary said again. He held his hand out at the last possible second for Ryan to shake it.
“Let’s get some breakfast,” Shiloh said. “Come on, guys, into the kitchen. Ryan, can you help?”
“I’m Ryan,” Ryan was saying. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“I want peanut-butter toast,” Junie said.
“You can have bananas,” Shiloh said. “Or an oatmeal cup.”
“Gus-Gus can have nananas,” Gus said.
“Yes, you can,” Shiloh agreed. “Ryan? Please?”
Ryan followed her into the kitchen. His eyebrow was still wedged into his forehead. “Cary, huh?”
“Will you get Gus a banana?”
“This seems like a good time for us to talk about the overnight rule,” Ryan whispered.
Shiloh’s head jerked up.
The overnight rule was simple: No overnight guests when the kids were in the house. Even Shiloh’s mom had to follow it. “No,” Shiloh said. “That’s not what this is.”
Ryan pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “Goldilocks begs to differ.”
She took a step closer to Ryan, dropping her voice. “He just needed a place to stay. His mom is in the hospital.”
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Shiloh. I’m happy to change the agreement. We said we would re-evaluate—”
“That’s not what thisis,” she said again. “He was sleeping on the couch.”
“Oh, is that an exception to the rule?”
