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Jem helped Tean up, and the two of them slipped upstairs, and John-Henry and Theo returned the balls to the garage. Shaw got on the sofa and fussed with the blankets and asked Emery to tuck him in.
“That’s right,” John-Henry said, steering Emery toward the stairs. “Just pretend you didn’t hear him.”
“Night, little bro,” North said as he pulled a blanket over him.
“Uh, actually, that one’s got some weird associations for me,” Auggie said.
North cracked an eye. A crook of a smile appeared. “Night, Lil-bits.”
“That one’s not exactly better.”
North scratched his nose with his middle finger.
“But,” Auggie said with a sigh, “I guess I’ll take it.”
Theo was waiting by the stairs, and they went down together. In the dark, they fumbled around until they were lying under the blanket together. Theo looped an arm around Auggie and pulled him against his chest. His beard was soft against Auggie’s neck, and his body was warm from the juggling. One moment, Auggie was telling himself he’d never fall asleep, and the next, darkness crashed over him like a wave.
But from somewhere a long way off, he thought he heard Theo say, “Thank you.”
19
The next morning, in the calm that came after the rush of everyone else leaving the house, Auggie sat in the kitchen, reviewing Shaniyah’s videos, while Tean babied Jem.
“It’s not that the cut is itchy,” Jem said. “It’s scratchy.”
“Itchy and scratchy are the same thing,” Tean said. “And I don’t know how McDonald’s is supposed to help.”
“The sausage has a naturally soothing oil. Like the kind we give Scipio for his coat.”
“In the first place, that’s salmon oil, and it actually is good for you because of the omega-3 fatty acids, among other things. In the second place, McDonald’s grease is definitely not good for you—”
“It’s good for my coat.”
“—because it’s the kind of fat that clogs your arteries.”
“It’s right here,” Jem said, tracing a line across his chest. “This is where it’s the scratchiest. Where I got cut.”
Tean made a helpless noise.
“Risking my life to defend a helpless child.”
“I hope that was for Lana,” Auggie said without looking up from his phone, “and not me.”
“In a burning building.”
“Oh my gosh,” Tean breathed.
Auggie had a number of good tricks up his sleeve, and he would have put himself in the running for some seriously good puppy eyes, but Jem put him to shame.
“One,” Tean finally said in a helpless voice. “One sausage biscuit.”
“And a hash brown,” Jem put in quickly. “For my coat.”
Tean made that noise again.
“And a coffee, but the really good one from that place on Market Street.”
“You are lucky that I love you.”
