Under normal circumstances, I’d have expected someone in Missy’s position to be polite and explain that she’d handle her kid.
She hadn’t.
She’d just stomped off like a pissed-off three-year-old who’d been denied a toy at Walmart.
“Exactly.” Trapping him against me, I shrugged. “Besides. I’m pretty sure I was promised a blow job, and there’s no takebacks on that.”
He snorted out a laugh. “When did I do that?”
“I’ll remember the details at some point. Just trust me.” That got a giggle out of him and he wiggled in a circle so he could rest his head on my shoulder.
“I do.” He made a happy sound when I kissed his head. “Thank you for...for all that.”
“For being rude to your sister or trapping the gremlins?” I wasn’t sure how he would respond, so I was glad when he snickered.
“Both.” Letting out a deep breath, he didn’t seem to be in any rush to move. “I...I wasn’t expecting any of that, but I’m glad the gremlins didn’t eat you.”
“You would’ve had to go back to feeding yourself if they’d eaten me.” My ridiculous answer got another snicker from him, so I played up the silliness again. “And then there’s the wholeI keep you on trackthing. Yep, I’m very useful and you don’t want me to get eaten.”
His groan caught me off guard. “Ugh, Lori.”
Ah.
Laughing, I hugged him before slowly relaxing my hold. “She’s never going to believe this, but at least it will be a good distraction for when you have to confess you moved to my place.”
Knox couldn’t seem to decide if he wanted to laugh or groan. “I’m going to need more alcohol for that conversation.”
“As long as you don’t go thinking you need to make any more job postings, I don’t mind watching after a drunk Knox.” But if he thought I was going to leave him completely unsupervised, he and I were going to need to have a longer conversation.
Nearly giggling out a laugh, he shook his head. “No job postings. You do very well at taking care of me.”
Since it seemed like we were both on the same page with that, I nodded. “Good. But for now, taking care of you means we need that calendar and a few more clothes. Is there anything else you want?”
His shrug said he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t move away, so I wasn’t going to rush him. “I think I might grab those lamps in the living room. I think they should go in my office.”
Hmm.
“Okay.” Rubbing his back, I ignored the questions that popped up and made a thinking sound. “Do you want me to go upstairs with you and help you pack? I was thinking about cleaning out the fridge while we were here.”
Especially since it didn’t seem like he was moving back in any time soon.
“It’s daytime, and you’re here, so I can go upstairs by myself.” His response was clear and technically not confusing, but it just added to my questions list.
Had he really grasped that the house was safe?
“Perfect.” He stepped back and smiled as I released my hold on him, but there was something in his eyes as he looked around the room that said it was time to find a therapist. “I’m going into the kitchen and you’re heading upstairs. Let me know if you need me, but once you’re done, we’ll regroup.”
And then we’d see how much furniture he was planning on bringing over to the other house.
“Yes. Pack and regroup.” Knox seemed to be mostly talking to himself as he grabbed an empty cardboard box from the bottom of the closet and started stacking his notebooks in it.
All of his notebooks.
We were going to need more boxes.
I wasn’t sure we were at the point where a conversation would be helpful, though. Knox needed to get out of this house and he needed time to process. “Let me know if you need me, but if you’re good and don’t get distracted, I’ll consider a reward later.”
There was no way he’d get distracted, but the game seemed to lighten the mood.
