Page 84 of Open To Negotiation

“We had five more volunteers start this week, the partnership with the medical school is doing wonders.” Jane took a sip of her wine.

“You volunteer with the foundation?” When I’d talked to Edward last night, he mentioned the volunteer program and I was immediately interested. It was a bummer to learn that the Maria Knight Memorial Fund wasn’t up and running in Canada yet.

“Have been since it started, Maria was my best friend and an incredible woman. It helps me feel like I’m honoring her memory.”

I noticed Theo shift in his chair beside me. I reached over and rested my hand on his thigh. “That’s beautiful.” I cleared the emotion from my voice. I’m sure raising her son to be the man that he was would have been enough honor, but I could tell Theo wanted to move on. “So who was the worst of them growing up?”

“Here we go.” Noah’s eyes lit up as he rubbed his hands together. Theo leaned in and kissed my cheek as Jane let out a laugh.

The rest of the night was spent learning more about Theo’s teenage years. It turned out that he and Asher had never been shy about getting into trouble, and Henry and Jane had been called to pick them up from school more than once.

I learned that Theo and Noah found Asher sleeping in a car and brought him home. Jane took one look at him and started making calls and he’d lived with them after that, it was mentioned in passing as part of a story and as much as I wanted to dig, I bit my lip.

We all laughed as they got to their university years, with everyone else adding to the stories all through dinner. By nine o’clock, I couldn’t stop yawning, and Jane hurried us upstairs.

I’d collapsed on the bed and was asleep before Theo was out of the washroom.

I rolled over in the bed for the third time to see Theo still sound asleep. Not surprising given that the clock said it was still before five in the morning.

I loved the scruff on his face in the morning and seeing his long dark lashes resting on his cheek. Theo had one hand behind his head and the other was underneath my pillow like he was reaching for me. He looked so peaceful I didn’t want to disturb him.

Crawling out of bed, I tiptoed down the hall after snagging his sweater from the chair. Pushing my arms through the sleeves, I pulled it down to cover me and went to the back of the house as quietly as I could. Going outside, I sat myself on the stone wall surrounding the patio.

It was cool without the sun up but I didn’t mind, the grass had a layer of dew making it smell amazing.

“Do you mind if I join you?” I jumped, looking at Jane behind me. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” She held her hands up with a smile.

“Of course.” I waved to the space next to me on the wall and she took a seat. “I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“No, I’m an early riser.”

I looked over at her skeptically. It was still dark out but I let her get away with it.

“Theo told me that this was one of the best places to watch the sunrise, since I couldn’t sleep I figured I might as well see it for myself.”

“Why couldn’t you sleep?”

“Jet lag is getting to me, although the rest of the guys don’t seem affected.”

“They travel so much I’m shocked they have normal sleep patterns at all.” We both laughed softly and a comfortable silence settled between us for a few minutes. “I was hoping to catch you alone actually.”

“Oh boy, is this where you grill me about my intentions with Theo?” I looked over at her and she shook her head with a soft smile.

“No, nothing like that. But I did want to thank you.” Her tone turned more serious and I focused my attention on her.

“For what?”

“Did Theo tell you what happened to Maria?”

“How she passed? Yeah, he did.” She let out a breath, closed her eyes and smiled before looking back at me, unshed tears glistening in her eyes.

“He never talks about it. And the fact that he told you and he has you in that house.” She shook her head as she collected her thoughts and then took my hand. “When we brought him here after she passed, I was so worried. He’d just lost his mother, his father didn’t even bat an eye at signing over custody to me. Theo didn’t say a word that day, he hardly said anything at the funeral. Just stood there, stoic and staring blankly forward. I’m not sure I ever saw him shed a tear.

“That boy was disappearing before my eyes. I thought maybe he would grow out of it, that the grief would lessen and he would gain some of himself back. I thought he would live again. But he didn’t. He closed himself off the day his mum died. He let Noah and Asher in but I watched him lock everyone else out. Did you know he’s hardly been home since he left for school? He would always find a reason to stay away for holidays. He doesn’t even call me.”

“I didn’t know,” I said quietly, trying to keep my own emotions at bay.

My heart broke for the little boy who lost the only family he’d ever known and didn’t lean on the people who were there to help him.