"What happened might have been horrific, but I'm not sure how much of it he remembers. His therapist can't get him to talk about it," Julian said. "He has made a lot of progress though. Right after the accident, he was in such bad shape. That's why someone at social services worked extra hard to track down any relatives. They found out who his father was though his name wasn't on Danny's birth certificate. But my father is deceased. Then they contacted me."
"It's good that he has you now," Rob said.
"I just wish I had known about Danny sooner. And I hope he'll like the place where we're moving," Julian said with a sigh, like he had misgivings.
His worried look made Rob think of another reason why Julian might be moving. "So the move is for Danny's sake, or does it have something to do with Pete Thayer and getting the hell away from him," Rob said a little too roughly, but he had come to really hate that guy since he saw him hassling Julian.
At first Julian didn't say anything. Maybe he was offended by his tone. "Thayer hasn't given you any trouble at the office, has he?" Julian finally asked, but to Rob it seemed that he was trying to deflect him.
"Haven't even seen him. I bet he can't be bothered with a nobody like me," Rob said then he pressed on, not ready to drop the subject. "Shouldn't you report him to HR?"
Julian shook his head and looked away. "I don't want to complicate my life right now. You might not have heard, but he's married to Mr. Upton's niece. On top of that, Mr. Upton is still recovering from his bypass, and while he is gone, Thayer is in charge. It's not a good time."
"Right," Rob said and clamped his mouth shut. Maybe he was being too pushy and Julian would change his mind about hiring him. But the way Thayer had menaced Julian in front of Danny really pissed him off.
Just as Rob was thinking he went too far, Julian told him, "We leave early Saturday. Is that all right with you?"
"It's fine," Rob said right away. "So the job is mine?"
"Yes," Julian told him simply and Rob let out a relieved breath.
That made Julian smile, but then he turned more businesslike as they went back to packing. Danny came over to watch the action from the doorway. To put him to work, Rob handed him anything that needed to be thrown away and he got to drop it into the wastebasket.
By the time they were done, it was a little past Danny's bedtime, and Julian was ready to take him to bed. First he got to say good night to Rob.
"This was a busy day," Rob said and Danny nodded. "You did good work. Good night and I'll see you soon."
"Good night, Rob," Danny said sweetly and waved to him as he went off toward his bedroom while holding Julian's hand.
Rob was left to check that nothing got left behind and to make sure the boxes were labeled like they should be. Unpacking was going to be his job, and he would have no one to curse at but himself if he couldn't find something.
Julian didn't come back for a while, so Rob kept busy. Once he did get back, Rob was pretty sure he would send him home. That gave him a pang of regret, like when a good time was about to end.
Since when was packing a good time? Rob needed to stop thinking of Julian as a good-looking guy and think of him only as his boss.
But then Julian appeared at the door of his office, and Rob knew it was hopeless. As soon as he saw Julian, all he wanted to do was grab hold of him and tumble with him to the floor.
