Page 147 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“It’s milk,” Pat said before Myles could ask if Pat had just hyped his niece up on a gallon of juice, sugar and chemicals. “I am not a completely bad influence.”

Pat settled in the chair across from the couch, and for a minute, Shelly stood looking from one to the other of them. Finally, she crawled up onto the chair to sit on the wide arm next to Pat and tuck her feet under Pat’s leg.

“How’s Wyatt?” Jet asked before the silence could settle too thickly around them. “Really? Because I know he tells me he’s okay, but how is he really?”

“He does seem okay, for the most part. He likes the lifeguarding classes at the Y much better than the school classes he’s taking on line.”

“He’s not going to pass math,” Jet said, looking guilty but also lifting his chin in defiance. “I’m not supposed to tell you that, but he needs a tutor.” He looked over at Myles. “If I was there, I could tutor him. I’m good at math.”

“You can tutor him on FaceTime.”

“It’s not the same.”

“How about you worry about finishing high school yourself before you invest too much of your energy into your friend’s success?”

“Because I can take that online course and finish it in about three weeks. And pass it. So I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about him.”

Myles peeled his attention away from Steven to look at Jet. “Commendable. But as I’ve recently been reminded, its better for everyone that you worry about you, first.”

Jet stared at him, mutinously at first. Then he grunted and got up. “Fine. I’ll be halfway finished with high school before we move back to Griffon’s Elbow. You’ll see.” He took the stairs up to his room two at a time, and though Myles expected to hear his door slam, all he heard was the faint sound of music coming on, and Jet singing along with zero skill.

“Before you move back?” Steven turned Myles’s attention back with a finger on his chin. “Explain?”

“I have no idea what he’s talking about.”

“Well.” Pat set her half-empty mug down and stood. “Shelly, I think it’s time you and I took MJ for a walk.” She turned to Myles. “I was thinking of having her to my place for movies and junk food. Any objections?”

“Not a one,” Myles agreed.

“Yay!” Shelly jumped down and dashed for the stairs, yelling to Jet that she was going on a sleepover.

Jet reappeared at the top of the stairs. “Why is she leaving?”

Myles and Steven both looked up at him.

“Oh. My God. I’m going to watch movies in Grandpa’s room. I’ll sleep there.”

“Why?”

“Because.” Jet disappeared, but only momentarily. He returned with an arm full of electronics, his sketch pad and pencils, then thumped down the stairs. He crossed the room to the hallway that led to the upper floors on the other side of the huge house. “It’s really far away from your room.”

“That seems fair,” Steven said quietly. “I wasn’t planning on muzzling you, and you can get loud.”

Myles panned back to look at him. “Muzzle me?”

Steven leaned in for a kiss, and Myles barely noticed Pat and Shelly when they came back down with Shelly’s overnight bag and favourite pillow.

“Bye, Uncle My-my!”

“Come on, sweetie. Uncle My-my is busy.”

They didn’t make it to Myles’s room for some time, and Myles hoped, at one point, that Jet stayed up in his grandfather’s suite. But the thought only hovered for a moment in the periphery before Steven distracted him with his mouth on Myles’s chest.

“Maybe before we get any more naked,” Steven suggested when they were panting together on the couch in nothing but their boxers and socks, “we should go up to your bed?”

“Probably a good idea.” He would have loved to hop up and dash up the stairs as Jet had earlier. Instead, he rolled awkwardly to his feet and groped for his cane.

Steven slapped the handle into his palm and took his free hand. “Take your time,” he advised. “You’re going to need your strength.”