"His name is Julian," Danny confided to him.
"I see," Rob said, but he was pretty sure Mr. Brenner didn't want him to call him by his first name.
"You can call me Julian if you want, but it's completely up to you," he said letting Rob decide how much professional distance he wanted to keep between them.
Rob decided to let Danny weigh in. "Julian is better, right?"
Danny nodded emphatically, and the issue was settled.
"All right. I'll call you Julian," Rob said but then he caught a flustered look cross his face. Wasn't it OK? As Rob watched, he saw Julian's mouth quirk into a smile for just a second. It was so fleeting, Rob might have imagined it, but the thumping of his heart told him he hadn't. Julian. He did like saying that name.
With Rob and Julian's help, Danny managed to pack more than just his toys. When they were done, Julian looked around the room and wondered, "Do we have everything?"
More of Danny's things were scattered around the apartment. Once those were gathered and boxed up, Julian decided it was time for his kid brother to take a break and took him to the kitchen.
When Julian came back, he offered Rob a bottle of water. "Did you want anything else?" he asked, but Rob shook his head.
"I'm fine. So what's next?"
"Since Danny is occupied with a snack and some coloring, you can help me pack my office," Julian said as he led the way through the spacious living area, past the packing boxes and toward the office on the other side of the apartment.
"I'm surprised you don't have movers doing this for you," Rob said as they stepped into his office. It was a mess of binders, boxes and files right now.
"I wanted to ease Danny into this move. That's why I'm having him help with packing his stuff," Julian explained.
Rob nodded. "That makes sense."
"He's been through some trauma. This past spring, he was in a serious car accident. He wasn't hurt badly, but it took time to get him out of the wreckage. Since then he doesn't like cars and all the noise from the street. That's why I want to move somewhere quieter. And my family house in Peach Tree is as quiet as it gets."
"Poor kid. How are you getting there?" Rob wondered as he realized the trip might be tough to take for the little guy.
"Driving. It will be a challenge. These days Danny does well enough on a short drive, so I plan to stop as often as I need to," Julian said. "Do you have a car?"
"No," Rob said. He had an old Honda for a while, but he couldn't afford to keep fixing it so he had to give it up.
"Then you can drive there with us, if you don't mind," Julian said and once again Rob noticed that his eyes had this power over him. They made him forget where he was or what he was doing. It took all of his willpower to get his mind to focus.
"No problem," Rob said. Julian was making it sound like the job was his, but he hadn't actually said so. He was so reserved. Rob had trouble reading him.
"And moving for a while isn't a problem?" Julian asked.
"The place where I'm living now is temporary, so I wouldn't mind a change of scenery." Rob wasn't about to get into the whole deal with his roommate, but the thought of getting away did appeal to him.
"That's good. I already checked your references with Mrs. Wells. She said you were good with her kids."
"Right. The triplets," Rob said remembering how terrifying they were. "That was me and my sister. It was a while ago. We were babysitting them as a team. I wouldn't have survived it without backup."
"You're smiling, so I guess it wasn't a complete nightmare. Would you mind doing that kind of thing again and helping me with Danny?" Julian asked.
"It's no problem. Danny is a really nice kid," Rob said and Julian looked relieved.
"I'm glad. I think he'll like having you along with us for the trip," Julian said. "And I want to bring Danny's stuff with us, so he can feel at home right away."
"He doesn't seem too nervous about the move," Rob said as Julian handed him a stack of files and pointed out which box he should put them in.
"That's thanks to you being here," Julian said. "But I'm not sure how he'll react once we're on the road. Before he came to live with me, Danny was in foster care. No one knew who his father was so he had two different foster families after he lost his mom. The car crash happened when he was being transported to a new foster home. The driver and the social worker who were with him were badly hurt. They didn't make it. Danny was trapped with them in the car for hours before the emergency crew got to him and got him out."
"God. I'm so sorry. That's terrible," Rob said. He couldn't imagine such a small child having to go through something like that.
