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“Fair enough. There’s no law that says you have to like me. But if you think that’ll make me give up on you, you’re going to be disappointed. You can have today off, because you’re obviously tired. But you’re going to say sorry to Juliette for your behavior, and then you’re going to work twice as hard for her next time, do you hear me? Because I’m not giving up on you, Finn Taylor. I’m going to see you walk out of here one day if it’s the last thing I do.”
He stares at me, and then his bottom lip trembles.
I sigh and drop to my haunches in front of him. “I know it’s hard, and I’m sorry you have to go through it. But what doesn’t kill you levels you up, right?”
Before I can stop him, he leans forward, throws his arms around me, and buries his face in my neck.
“Hey, whoa.” Off balance, I tip forward onto my knees and freeze for a moment. When you’re alone in a room with a kid, physical contact isn’t advised. But at times like this, the human urge to comfort overrides everything else. He’s lost his dad, and he’s stuck in a wheelchair. Ofcoursethe poor guy’s a mess.
“It’s all right.” I give him a hug and rub his back.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“It’s okay.”
“I didn’t mean to swear at you.”
“They’re just words, Finn. They don’t mean anything.”
“Mum doesn’t like me swearing.”
“Then we won’t tell her.”
He gives a little laugh and moves back.
I take out my pocket square and hand it to him. He wipes his eyes and blows his nose, then holds it out to me.
“You keep it,” I tell him. “I don’t want your snot, thank you very much.”
He laughs again and tucks it in the pocket of his jeans.
I sit back on the bench. “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“If you’re just tired and frustrated, that’s okay. But there’s nothing else that’s gotten to you today?”
His smile fades, and he looks down at his hands as they twist in his lap. “I had an argument with Mum this morning.”
“Okay. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I asked her if we could get a dog, and she said no.”
“Okay.”
“I really want one,” he says. “It’d be so cool to have a puppy. I could teach it how to sit and lie down and stuff. I’d feed it and take care of it, I promise.”
“But she doesn’t want one?”
“She said there’d be nobody to look after it during the day.”
“That’s a fair comment. Puppies need feeding and taking out every few hours. Don’t glare at me.”
“I thought you were on my side.”
“I’m on the puppy’s side. It’d get lonely being on its own all day.”
He scratches at a mark on the arm of his chair. “I guess.” He huffs a sigh. “It’s really annoying when she’s right.”
