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CHAPTER 17
Nick had had no idea babysitting would be so exhausting.
He and James played hide-and-seek in the woods until dark. Not much of a challenge for Nick, who merely had to ask the air to locate the boy, but he could pretend to seek. Then tag.
Then football in the lengthening shadows of twilight. Nick made a good show of falling down when sixty pounds of kinder-gartner tackled him.
Just when the edge of the sun dropped below the horizon, something foreign brushed Nick’s senses.
It didn’t feel malicious, but Nick grabbed James, tossing the boy in the air while he laughed and shrieked.
Nick ignored that and cast his senses wide.
Nothing.
He dragged James inside anyway. The kid promptly dumped a massive plastic tub of Legos in the middle of the living room floor.
Then he grinned up at Nick. “Can we build a whole city?”
So they built a whole city.
His phone buzzed around eight, just when he was telling James that yes, his mother did want him to brush his teeth. Nick slid the phone out of his pocket with his heart in his throat, hoping for a message from Adam.
He hadn’t heard from him all day.
Not Adam. Michael.
Hannah’s folks are going to come pick up James so he can sleep in his own bed.
And that was it. Typical.
Nick texted back.
How was dinner??
Terrifying.
A pause, then another message appeared.
Good call on the haircut.
Nick smiled.
“Can I play Angry Birds?” James asked through a mouthful of toothpaste.
Nick slid his fingers across the keys. “In a minute.”
Are you coming home?
Going out for a while. Don’t wait up.
When Hannah’s parents showed up, they didn’t look like they wanted to kill anyone, so Nick figured the dinner had gone pretty well. Hannah’s mother was a petite blond woman in a sweater set, and she tried to give Nick sixty dollars for babysitting. He turned it down.
The fire marshal looked at him long and hard, reminding Nick that this guy had interrogated his twin brother a few weeks ago.
But Hannah’s mother stepped between them to kiss him on the cheek and say thank you. The fire marshal shook his hand.
James gave him a hug.
