Page 23 of Endless Depths

I pocket my phone without sending it.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you.” Lawrence pulls his phone out. “You’re being a little bi?—”

Lawrence’s antics fade into the background as I focus on Finn, looking more miserable than ever.

Shay rubs his back. “Why don’t you go help Uncle Lawrence pick something to watch?”

He shakes his head.

“Are you sure? I can save your cake for you.”

“I’m still eating it!” Finn shouts, shoving his paper plate across the table. It slides off the other end, landing cake-side down on the floor.

His eyes widen. He doesn’t have outbursts. He doesn’t get in as much trouble as he should, given everything he’s been through. He probably feels like he committed a crime.

I rise to my feet slowly. “Finn, it’s okay. You’re not in trouble.”

Finn shakes his head again, then runs up the stairs. Shay piles her dark honey hair into a top bun, and bends to pick up the plate.

“I’ll talk to him. Go relax.” I snap my fingers at Alejo and Lawrence. “You guys, help clean up.”

“Roger,” Alejo says.

Finn didn’t go far. He’s hugging his knees at the top of the stairs with a perfect view of the front door. I sit down beside him.

His bottom lip trembles. “I don’t want cake. I want Daddy. I want Uncle.”

My heart fractures. “I know, bud. Me too.”

The front door opens, but it’s just Javi returning. Finn bursts into tears. Fuck Cole for doing this to him.

I pick him up and hug him tightly. That’s what I always needed when I was a kid. He wraps his arms around my neck andburies his face in my shoulder. I shush him as my own tears silently fall.

“When I was little, sometimes I got very mad, but I was actually sad,” I say, carrying him to his room.

He wipes his nose with the back of his hand. “When your mommy and daddy died?”

“Yeah. Does that ever happen to you?”

He nods.

“I thought so. I have a trick for that.”

“You do?”

“Yep.” I lower him to his feet and toss him a sea otter pillow from his bed, then take an octopus pillow for myself. Shay and I offered to redecorate his nautical-themed room, but he wanted to keep it. “Right now, I’m pretty sad. Do you want to try it with me?”

He sniffs. “Okay.”

I sit on the floor and rest my back against the bed. “Alright. The trick is to be as loud as possible.”

“I don’t get it.” His brow furrows just like Seb’s. Cole’s too.

“It works like magic. I’ll show you.” I lift the pillow, and yell into it. Only a little. I don’t want to scare him with all the sadness I feel.

Finn laughs heartily.

“See, it’s already working.” I nod toward his pillow. “Do it with me this time? Let’s see how loud we can be.”