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That should scare me off.

Instead, I’m doing math.

Thirty days on that notice. One month of that number covers it. Three months, and Matthew and I could move anywhere. Somewhere Luca’s name means nothing. Somewhere with a yard.

“I know it’s weird,” Paula says. “Super weird. If you want to think it over…”

I think of my son lining up his cars in a perfect row. Tell me why.

For him, I can handle weird.

For him, I can handle a lot worse.

“I’ll take the interview.”

Paula smiles, like it’s exactly the answer she was hoping for.

I’ll think about that smile later.

Not yet.

“Then let’s not keep him waiting,” she says.

CHAPTER 6

STEVIE

“Ihate this. I want it on the record that I hate this.” Candy’s already half into her work face, one eye done, accusatory mascara wand pointed at me. “I would take that boy for the whole day. I would take him for a week. But if I miss another…”

“Candy, stop. You think I’d let you lose a shift over my mess?”

I get Matthew’s good jacket on him, the one without the juice stain. Thankfully, he’s not picking today to make getting dressed a whole process.

“It’s fine. He’s coming with me.”

“To the fancy, rich, mystery-man interview?”

“To the fancy, rich, mystery-man interview.”

“You’re second-guessing yourself,” Candy says, watching me.

I tuck my blonde hair behind my ear and take a deep breath. “I mean, it’s a live-in job, Candy. We’d be living there.” I crouch down to Matthew’s level and fix his collar, talking to her over his head. “If me having a kid is a deal-breaker, I need to know now and not after I’ve packed up our whole life and hauled it across the city. It’s better he says no to both of us now.”

“And the other reason?”

“What other reason?”

“The one where you trust that boy’s read on a man more than your own.”

I don’t answer that. I don’t have to. Candy’s known me long enough to hear the things I don’t say, and she’s right, anyway. It was my own radar that talked me into Luca. But Matthew’s has never been wrong. He stills and becomes watchful around people who aren’t safe, and he melts for the ones who are. I’ve learned the hard way to believe him over myself when it comes to reading people.

“He’s coming,” I say again. “End of discussion.”

Candy looks at me for a long second, then kisses the top of Matthew’s head and grabs her bag. “Go get the job. Both of you. Knock him dead.”

“It’s quiet here,” Matthew says. He always mentions the quiet of a place when he’s nervous.

And at this moment, I’m right there with him.