“I love snacks.”
I loveyou.
“Perfect.” She wrapped her arms around herself, something I’d noticed she’d been doing a lot lately. I badly wanted to ask if she’d like me to help with that. If maybe she wanted to borrow my arms. If I could hug her.More. I’d hugged her some, but it didn’t feel like enough. None of what I’d done felt like enough. Could I do more? Would she let me do more? “I have another hour or two of work to do, but then I should be free.”
I nodded. “I’ll be here.”
Always, always be here.
TheMillennium Falconhad 921 pieces and 339 steps, so Ellie and I did not finish it in one night.
No surprise there.
We were going on day two of building theStar Warsspaceship when there was a knock at the front door.
And then, to my slight horror, my mother came bursting in.
“Oh, look at you two,” she said as soon as she saw Ellie and me sitting on the living room floor around a scattering of pieces. “It’s like no time has passed at all.”
“Hi, Mom,” I said loudly. “How are you? How can I help you? What are youdoinghere?”
I gave her an intentional look that she just waved away, and I allowed it. Because by the time the questions were out of my mouth, I realized who she had brought with her. And why.
“Honey, baby!” Ellie was already crawling across the floor as the old beagle trotted toward her, the two of them meeting in the middle of the living room. My heart squeezed, and when I looked up to thank Mom for bringing the brightest smile to Ellie’s face that I’d seen in weeks, she was gone.
I frowned, but then a second later, the front door swung open again, and Anne London strolled into the house again, this time headed straight toward the kitchen, carrying a pan of some sort in her hands. “I brought you dinner!” she called. “Don’t mind me, I’ll just be in and out.”
“Hang on,” I muttered to Ellie, but she was entirely entertained by Honey, who I petted before standing to follow my mother. I found her at the stove, pressing buttons to preheat it.
“The hot dish needs about thirty minutes at 400,” she said, turning around to give me a meaningful look while pointing at the casserole dish she walked in with. “Do I need to stay to ensure that you put it in the oven when it’s done preheating?”
“I—no, I think I can handle that, Mother.”
“Good.” She looked satisfied with my response. “I also brought you a salad because God knows you could use some more vegetables.”
“Excuse me. What do you know about my vegetable intake?”
She ignored me, diving into a cloth bag that I hadn’t even seenher bring in. She pulled out something wrapped in paper, which I soon discovered was a loaf of bread.
“Your brother has been working on his sourdough starter.”
“Theo?”
“Yes, I had to stop at a shelter by the university yesterday, so I paid him a visit. He has more loaves of bread than he knows what to do with, that one.”
“First soup, now bread?” I muttered.
“Yes, well, I believe he wanted bread to go with his soups. Logical, isn’t it?”
“Logical, but perhaps rude that he didn’t want to grace us with his sourdough the other night when he came over.”
“The sourdough starter wasn’t ready yet, dear.” She gave me a sympathetic look, like I was a slightly hopeless child for not understanding the logistics of baking bread. “Anyway, here’s your loaf now.”
She set it down on the counter and then faced me with a sigh. But I wasn’t ready for her to face me. Tolookat me.
“I think we need to find him a partner,” I tsked nervously. “Or at least a pet. I don’t suppose you could help with that.” I raised a brow, giving her a little wink and forcing a smile.
“Believe it or not, I am not here to talk about your brother,” she chastised, and my smile fell. Right, yes, of course. “You don’t need to do this, Sullivan.”
