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She was working herself to the point of exhaustion, and Tony’d had enough of seeing the dark circles under her eyes. To make matters worse, she was losing weight again.
Something needed to give, and he intended to bring the subject up to Rhys as soon as the guys left.
Tony glanced up at the sound of Jasper’s voice.
He bounded into the living room with a bit more energy than usual. Which was saying something, considering the kid bounced more than Tigger.
Tony grinned as Jasper made his way around the room, fist-bumping all the guys, something Kayden had taught him to do whenever their team scored. Since then, it was Jasper’s favorite greeting.
“Hyped-up on birthday cake?” Rhys asked Aunt Berta, who followed him into the room, looking like she’d had a day and a half.
“Fifteen kids under the age of seven,” she said exhaustedly. “All of them on sugar overload by the end of the party. Not sure who thought a pinata was a good idea.”
Tony stood up and gave his aunt a kiss on the cheek. “Why don’t you go on down to your apartment and relax for a little while? I’ll call Jess and ask her to bring us all subs home from Paulie’s for dinner.”
The fact Aunt Berta was okay with takeout told him just how insane her afternoon had been. “Sounds perfect.” Then she looked around the living room, giving every single man a very pointed look. “All of these beer bottles are going to be in the recycling bin when I come back up, right?”
“You can count on me to keep these slobs in line,” Joey said, winking at Aunt Berta, who rolled her eyes at him.
“Joseph Moretti, you were the one I was talking to. Lord help the woman who agrees to marry you.”
Joey had a well-earned reputation in their family for his messiness. It was one of the reasons Tony had been anxious to move into this apartment with Rhys. If he’d had to spend another month picking up his brother’s smelly socks and dirty dishes, he would have lost his shit.
Aunt Berta left and Jasper climbed onto the couch, squeezing a spot for himself between Rhys and Aldo, the latter playfully ruffling the boy’s hair. “How are you doing, Jasper?”
“Good.” Jasper grinned, revealing a new gap left behind by the loss of his second front tooth. He loved hanging out with the guys on Sundays, and Jess had admitted a couple weeks earlier the best part about living with them was that Jasper had the opportunity to spend time with positive male role models.
“Did you have fun at the party?” Rhys asked him during a commercial break.
Jasper nodded enthusiastically. “We played games and had cake and ice cream and…oh!” He jumped off the couch. “I forgot. We got toys too!” He dashed out of the living room.
Two seconds later, Tony heard glass breaking.
He and Rhys rose quickly, following the sound.
Jasper stood by the front door, his coat in his hands. Next to him, in three broken pieces, was a pottery bowl Aunt Berta had found at a yard sale. She’d given it to them to put their keys in.
Jasper’s eyes welled up with tears. “I bumped into the table.” He held up his coat, retrieving a small plastic football from his pocket. “I wanted to show you my toy.”
“That’s okay,” Tony said, bending down to pick up the broken bowl and keys scattered on the floor. “It was an accident.”
“I’m sorry.” The boy’s voice quivered as he tried to hold back his tears.
“Jasper,” Rhys said, putting a comforting hand on his head. “It’s okay, buddy.”
“Are you going to make us leave?” he asked miserably.
“What?” Tony asked, kneeling in front of Jasper. “What are you talking about?”
“I broke a lamp at Miss Brenda’s and she told Mommy I couldn’t come back anymore. Are you going to make us go back to the shelter?”
Tony placed the three pieces of pottery and keys on the table and hugged Jasper, his heart breaking that the kid was so afraid of being sent away. “Jasper. It was an accident. We would never send you away for breaking something. Hell—heck,” he amended. “There’snothingyou could do that would make us send you away.”
Rhys reached over and tipped Jasper’s face up with a gentle hand under the boy’s chin. “You and your mommy will have a home here for as long as you want it. Nothing you do will change that. That’s a promise. And I don’t break promises.”
Jasper nodded, but he still didn’t look convinced.
Tony, desperate to ease the boy’s mind, stood up, grabbed the biggest piece of the broken bowl, and threw it down, splintering it into five more pieces. “Besides, I broke the bowl way more than you.”
