“Absolutely,” Grayson said. “I’ll be here every day.” The enormity of his responsibility hit him anew. He was looking at years, decades, of trying to figure out what was right for these kids.
“And Violet will be here, too? And Tiff and Buster and Shep?”
Buster lifted his head from where he was lying at the foot of the bed, thumping his tail in reassurance. The boys had befriended the dogs immediately.
He squeezed Sam close. “We’ll all be here, buddy.” Grayson did have one appointment tomorrow—for a job interview Vi had arranged—but he’d remind the boys about that in the morning. For now, he just wanted Sam to feel secure. He understood the question the boy was really asking: are we going to get left again by the people we love? I miss them, too, buddy.
Once Sam finally yielded to sleep and both boys were softly snoring, Grayson padded down the hallway to the kitchen. Where the cookie jar lived.
He drew up short at the sight of his aunt working at the kitchen table. Her laptop and a mug of tea sat in front of her. Client folders were scattered across the surface. Because she gave her office to me. “I’ve displaced you.”
She glanced up with an absent frown “What are you talking about?”
“The boys and I will find a house when I have the money for it,” he vowed. “We won’t inconvenience you forever.”
“I get to work in my jammies with a dog lying across my feet. My life couldn’t be any more convenient. Boys asleep?”
He nodded. “When I was trying to decide which of their belongings were critical to keep with us and which could be left in Oklahoma for now, I overlooked the importance of bedtime stories. I’ve read the same four books so often I’ve memorized them.”
“Take the boys to the library. All the bedtime stories you could want.” Her lips twitched in a small smile. “Just ask Hadley.”
He choked on a bite of cookie. “H-Hadley?” His mind got hung up on the brunette mentioned in the same sentence as bedtime, and the tips of his ears burned the way they had when Vi had caught him kissing Julia Yanic on the living room couch thirteen years ago.
“Yeah, you should ask Hadley for children’s book recommendations. She is the town librarian after all.”
Oh. Right. Hadn’t she mentioned something about story hour at the library? “Weird. Not the part about her being a librarian. She always loved books.” He had a sudden stray memory of her carrying around a large book of wonders of the world in middle school, asking him if he wanted to know how many kilometers long the Great Wall of China was. “But I can’t believe she’s stuck in Cupid’s Bow.”
Violet sighed. “I realize your childhood wasn’t idyllic, but some of us like it here.”
Some people, maybe, but not his mother. Her own son hadn’t been enough to hold Rachel Cox here. “I didn’t mean to sound so derisive. I just thought Hadley was going out of state for college, headed for bigger things.”
Vi’s brow furrowed. “I don’t remember all the details, but there was something about her getting hurt and losing her softball scholarship to college.”
“Damn,” he said softly. “Does life work out for anyone?”
“Plenty of people. I can’t complain.”
Couldn’t she? She’d spent her twenties raising him and now here she was in her late thirties taking on his problems again.
She scowled, her tone firm. “Quit being so negative. Is that how you want the boys to view life? Hopeless?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Good. Then start looking for the hope around you. And if you don’t see any, do the world—and yourself—a favor. Create some.”
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