Chapter 4
For the first time since moving into his new house, Brenin was looking forward to going home.There would be people there waiting on him, and he couldn’t wait.As soon as he walked in the door, he knew something had happened, and he waited for Lisa to tell him what had happened rather than bombarding her with questions.
“Janice again.”He simply nodded and looked at Davy.“He loves the house and can’t wait until the pool is open again in the summer.He’s had swimming lessons, but I don’t know that I trust him being out there all alone.”
“We’ll all enjoy the pool come summer.I can’t wait either.It was too cold when I bought the house to live in to use it, so I’ve been waiting too.”He asked Davy how he liked his room.He told him excitedly, and that made him laugh a little.“Mom gave me the rules that we have to follow, so don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes when we’re here alone.All right?”
“Mom told me that you’re going to be picking me up from school sometimes, too.I like that.Sometimes I’m the only boy in my class who only has his mom picking him up.Other kids have step-dads or something like an uncle to pick them up.”He asked him if he had his homework done.“I have to do that as soon as I get home.Mom already went over the site words with me, too.I had to read at least five pages of my book, too.It’s all done.”
“Good to know.Also, tomorrow I’m picking you up after school, unless we can get the bus to bring you home.I don’t know how much later you’ll be, but you won’t be getting home at the same time as before.”He nodded and seemed distracted.“What’s up, buddy?You all right with living here?I promise you that things will be better in the future.I’m going to take care of you and your mom.”
“I know that.I was talking to my friend Parker, his new dad is a shifter too.Mom said you were a dragon, and everybody knows that about you.But Parker said that he’s good to him and never gets mad at him about stuff.”He said that was a good thing, right?“Yeah, it’s all good, but I worry about mom.Grandma isn’t going to be happy with her about living with you.She said that it’s a sin for her to be dating anyone when she’s had a husband already.”
“Your grandma is wrong about that.And we’ll be just sharing a house, nothing more.You understand that?”He shrugged and told him he thought that Mom would be happier about not working a lot.“I’m sure that she will be.It’ll take some time for her to get used to working just one job, too.If that’s what she wants.She doesn’t have to work at all, but I know that she has to.I do as well.It stems from being so old and getting bored easily.I have to keep busy.”
There was something still bothering him, he could tell, but he waited for him to tell him what it was.There was no point in pushing him into telling him.He wanted them to have a good relationship from the start, and pushing him wouldn’t help that.
After dinner of hot dogs and fries, the three of them went over the rules for the house again.They weren’t that hard to remember.It was mostly about after school and how homework had to be done right away.The rest were things like he had to eat all his dinner if he got seconds, and there were rules about bedtime, too.He didn’t have to go to bed when he went to his room at eight o’clock, but he had to be asleep by nine.He thought that was a good rule to have.He didn’t necessarily want to go to sleep as soon as he went to his room, either.
The rest were things like when he was with the little boy.He wasn’t to take him out anywhere without having him buckled in.He had a booster seat that he was required to sit in, and since he didn’t have one for his car, then he’d get one.Until then, they’d have to share.
He loved that the rules were just simple things that had to do with the safety of Davy.She had rules for herself, too, but he wasn’t too upset about them.She wasn’t going to do anything to his housewithout permission, and that she would not share a bed with him until she was ready.He knew that he wanted her, but he could live by her rules on that for as long as she needed.He didn’t want to rush her into anything, and that applied to sex as well.
When he was ready for bed, he told Lisa that he’d see her in the morning.After locking up the house, he was about as exhausted as he’d been in a while.It was a good kind of being tired, like he’d worked hard at something and was tired from that instead of boredom.As soon as he plugged in his phone to charge after setting the alarm, he was ready for a good night’s sleep.As soon as he turned out the light, he was out.
The next morning, he felt better than he had in previous mornings.He thought it had a lot to do with having someone in the house besides him.Once he made it to the kitchen, he was ready for something big to eat.As soon as he sat down, there was a huge plate of food set in front of him, and he was digging into it when Davy joined him in the kitchen.
“Will you adopt me?”He was startled by the question and told him that it would be up to his mom and him.“I’ve been a Manchester all my life, and I’d like to be a Savage now.”He nearly laughed but caught himself just in time.
“You’ve worn that name well if you ask me.Why don’t you want to be a Manchester anymore?You have to have a good reason.”He nodded and played with his food as he seemed to be thinking about how to answer him.“Buddy, you can talk to me about anything.You know that, don’t you?I’m here for you as much as I am your mom.”
“I know that.You listen to me really well, too.But Grandma said that being a Manchester has responsibilities, and I’m only seven.I don’t want to have to be responsible for making sure that the line is carried on.I don’t even know what that means.”He did laugh then and explained how he was supposed to marry someday and have a son to carry on the name.“I don’t even like girls, much less want to be married to one.”He sounded so shocked by the notion of marrying a girl that Brenin laughed hard.
“You’ll change your mind about girls when you get a bit older.Right now, you’re just a little boy, and that’s who I’ll love.”He looked at him with serious eyes and asked if he loved him.“I do.I’ve not said that to your mother yet, but I love her as well.She’s my heart and soul.”
“That’s mushy stuff.”He agreed with him and got him going for school.“Mom usually drops me off at daycare when she has to work the early morning shift.This is nice, where I don’t have to go there with the other littler kids.They think that it’s cool that they get to ride the bus to school in the morning.I’m excited about being dropped off at this place.I love this house.”
“I do now, too, since you and your mom live here.You never said how you liked your room.Is it up to standards for you?”He told him that he loved how big it was and that he had room to play there, too.“I guess it’s good that you’ve moved in as well.I love the two of you being here.”
“I love it too.And the pool.I had swimming lessons this past summer.Mom said if I do really good, then I can have a pool party on my birthday next time.That’s why I had to have lessons.Some of the other kids would invite me to their pool parties, and I didn’t know how to swim.Mom’s really good at making sure I can fit in with everyone else.”He told him that he fit into his life as well.“Good.I won’t embarrass you or anything when we’re out together.I don’t mind getting hugs, either, but no kissing.You’re a man, and I’m a little boy.People will think I’m some kind of pervert or something.I’m not sure what that means either, but I think it means that I’m weird.”
He thought that was as good a description as any and didn’t tell him anything different.He was going to have to ask Lisa if she told him the truth when he had questions, or if she fobbed him off until he was older.He had a feeling that she told him as much truth as he could handle for a kid, and that was the end of it.Just enough to satisfy him yet answer the questions truthfully.He could do that, too.
Dropping him off at school was fun.He knew just what to do when the teachers came out to help the kids get out of the cars.As soon as he was free to go on his way, he told Davy that he loved him and would see him after school.Just as he was leaving the lot, he got a call from the school.
“The bus will pick Davy up tomorrow.He’ll have to have an adult with him when he rides toschool, and once he’s on the bus, then he’ll be the responsibility of the bus driver.He’ll be dropped off the same way.The driver won’t allow him off the bus if there’s no one there to pick him up.Understand?”He said that he did and would be there.“I don’t know the times, but expect him around four o’clock.I’d be there a little earlier, just in case he’s in the line to be dropped off earlier.The same with pick up.He’ll be picked up anywhere between eight-thirty and a quarter to nine.”
He was told to be there early, as they didn’t know the route that well yet, so it might be earlier than mentioned.Brenin said he’d be there on time and would wait with Davy.After she repeated everything that she’d said to him, making sure that he knew what he was doing, he made a mental note to message Lisa the schedule so that she’d be aware of the bus pick up and drop off.With him there, she was going to be able to save money on the after-school daycare, too, he only just realized.He hoped that she’d not want to work so hard, but he couldn’t blame her for needing to work.They were new to one another, and she was still figuring out if she could trust him or not.He was all right with that so long as she was giving him a chance.He thought that he could conquer the world so long as she trusted him not to hurt her.
Heading to work early, he decided that he was going to be ready for the day better than he had in a while.Sometimes it was difficult to get going in the morning, but today he felt like he had the energy to get all his work done and maybe get a jump on tomorrow’s day.As he was getting his computer set up to check his emails, he heard from the school again.
“Mr.Savage?We tried to get in touch with Davy’s mother, but she’s not answering her phone.He’s been hurt.”He asked what had happened, already grabbing his coat to go to him.“He was in first period when he fell and hurt his knee.I don’t believe that there is any cause for alarm, but we have a note on his file that we’re to call his mother when he gets hurt, no matter what it is.”
“I’ll be right there.”He was in his car when he realized that he didn’t know anything about Davy’s doctors or if he was allergic to anything.He was going to need a list of things like that if he had to take him to the hospital for some reason.“I’ll check him over and decide if he’ll need to go to the hospital or not.His mother is working and can’t be reached.”
“I understand.Like I said, it’s just a fall, and he’s scraped up his knees, but we’re to call no matter what happens to him.”He told her that the same would still apply even though he was going to come in.“All right.But it seems like a waste of time to come in for a little boo-boo.”
“I’ll decide if it’s a boo-boo or not, and I’d appreciate it if you would not comment on the way things are done between his family and his being hurt at school.It’s my understanding that he’d been hurt before and was misdiagnosed when he had a broken bone.”She apologized, and he didn’t tell her it was all right.He only hoped that Davy was all right.He didn’t want to have to explain to his mom how he’d been hurt on his watch.
