Page 11 of The Haunting Plot

“Mom, can we?”

Sawyer turns his face toward mine. “Yeah, Mom, can we?”

“Doesn’t sound like you’re giving me the option to say no,” I mutter through gritted teeth so only he can hear.

He continues, unfazed. “I can bring Tommy too. I also have a boy and a girl.”

Jonah’s face lights up. “Tommy’s in my class. His favorite color is green, and he likes turtles. He sits in front of me, and he always needs to borrow a pencil from me because he forgets his. And he wears the same Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shirt every other day.”

Sawyer brightens. “You’re the pencil wizard!”

Jonah tilts his head in confusion.

“Tommy is terrible at names. He said there’s a kid who sits behind him who gives him a pencil every day. As soon as he turns around, this kid extends one to him like some kind of magical wizard.”

“That’s me!” Jonah beams.

Fucking great. Of course he’s charming enough to win over my kids. McKenna and Jonah are staring at him like he hung the moon when everyone’s focus shifts to me.

“I guess we can plan something,” I relent. A playdate would actually give me a much-needed break.

“Why are you here?” Jonah asks, looking at Sawyer.

McKenna whips her head at him. “Jonah, that’s rude.”

Jonah looks at her in confusion. He doesn’t pick up on social cues, but I understand his thought process, even if his sister doesn’t. “Sawyer might be helping fix a few things around this house to make it more comfortable for us to stay here while we’re displaced.”

“I don’t want to go back to the other house,” Jonah says.

“You don’t?”

“I like this place. It has more places to hide. And it doesn’t smell like Daddy. But I miss my swings.”

My heart catches at his admission, and I squeeze my eyes shut briefly to contain the emotion as mom guilt pierces my chest.

“I can help with that,” Sawyer says. “Your mom gave me a list of things you need done.”

Jonah looks around the room. “I don’t like loud noises.”

“Neither do I,” Sawyer agrees.

“Are you gonna make loud noises?”

Sawyer squats in front of Jonah, but Jonah avoids eye contact. “I’ll try not to when you’re here.”

“Okay.” Jonah turns and runs up the stairs, and I nod for McKenna to follow him.

Once the kids are gone, the awkward silence is deafening. He seems like a natural with kids. Jonah doesn’t talk to strangers normally, but between the fire and today, he’s said more words to Sawyer than he has to some of my mom friends. I’m not sure how to feel about that.

After several minutes, Sawyer speaks. “Look, this is gonna be a big project. RJ kinda led me to believe it was a smaller list. There are a few things I could do over a weekend that would help Jonah, but some of these things will take weeks to complete. And they will be loud.”

“It’s okay if you aren’t up for the job.” A pang of disappointment hits me, but I shove it away.

“Oh, I’m up for the job. I’d do anything for the pencil wizard. That kid has saved Tommy more times than I can count. He has ADHD and is always forgetting his pencils.”

The side of my face twitches in response.

“So you can smile.”