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Mr. Maxwell shuffled papers in front of him. “Mr. and Mrs. Caster have offered to become Lenny’s guardians.” He directed another condescending smirk my way. “Don’t you want to give your brother the best chance in life? I mean, what do you have to offer him? You’re broke. You live in an old apartment in a bad part of town, where you leave your brother by himself a lot. Do you really think the courts will look favorably at what you can offer?”
My back went ramrod straight. They’d looked into me. And I hadn’t noticed. I’d become complacent. And complacency would get you killed in my line of work.
Mom clearly hadn’t told themwhyI was broke. I might be able to use that to my advantage.
“So you’re suggesting that just because I can’t buy him a Ferrari for his birthday, he should go live with grandparents he’s never met?”
“They can give him a better life than you ever could.”
They certainly weren’t pulling any punches, hitting me right where I was most vulnerable. I’d always worried that what I could offer Lenny wasn’t enough. That he deserved more. But living with me had always been better than living with Mom.
Only now he might have a better option.
I glanced at him, my heart squeezing painfully at the thought of not seeing him every day. His face was a stoic mask, his eyes on the grandparents who had never bothered to even meet us until now.
Mr. Maxwell pushed an envelope across the table, the stark white paper with the firm’s logo in the corner screaming money. He pointed to it. “There’s an offer in there I’d urge you to consider. For the sake of yourself and your brother.”
Barely able to draw in a breath, I stood up, ignoring the envelope.
Lenny jumped up next to me like a jack-in-a-box. I shouldn’t have brought him with me, but when he’d found out what I was doing, he insisted. And I’d already kept Mom’s letter from him. I didn’t want to keep him out of decisions that would influence his future.
We left without another word.
Once we were back in my car, I didn’t start the motor but instead turned to my brother. “I love you. More than anything.”
He swallowed, his eyes glassy. “I know.”
“But I want you to know that this is your decision as much as it is mine.”
And maybe it would be for the best if he chose his grandparents.
He nodded, his hair falling over his eyes at the movement. I really needed to take him to the barber.
I drove home in a daze, hating myself for even considering giving Lenny up.
* * *
“How the fuck did you get up there?”
Jude’s voice startled me, and I slid down the roof with the jerky movement. Planting my foot down flat, I stopped my downward descent. Falling off the roof of the apartment building probably wouldn’t kill me, since I was only two stories up, but I had no intention of finding out for myself.
The roof was tiled and not too steep, making sitting on it easy. Unless someone snuck up on the person sitting on said roof.
Jude was now next to me, his big bulk stopping me from going anywhere else. “Fuck, are you okay?”
I leaned up on my elbows. “What are you doing up here?”
Nobody ever came up here. It was my place. My solace. I could think without interruptions. The roof meant privacy, while I could still keep an eye on everything. At least it did until tonight.
“I’m fixing the gutters. What are you doing up here?”
I checked the screen on my phone, showing me it was nearing midnight. “You’re fixing the gutters now? In the dark?”
He shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep.”
“Normal people have a drink or a glass of milk if they can’t sleep. They don’t get up on the roof to fix gutters that need to be replaced anyway.”
He settled down beside me. “Yeah, I figured that would be the case. But I thought I’d check.”
