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The door popped open and there stood Simon in a pair of new pajamas, looking delighted to see her. “You’re back!”
Oddly, it did feel like she was coming home. But Simon wasn’t her son, she reminded herself as Amos wrestled her suitcase through the door.
“I’ll put this in the bunk room now.” Rather than roll it across the hardwood and the rugs, he toted it past them.
Simon grinned up at her. “We’re going to watch a movie and have a sleepover downstairs.”
“I know.”
Amos would finally get his bed back to himself. She could hear him below, rolling her suitcase toward one of the bunks.
“Daddy has to get up when it’s still dark outside.”
“Not us, though.” Grace crossed toward the bowl of popcorn sitting on the kitchen counter. “We get to sleep in.” Spotting a small pile of fifty-dollar bills next to the bowl, she washed her hands. Was that money for her?
By the time she turned around with a paper towel, Amos had rejoined them.
“That cash is for you,” he called, taking a seat on the couch and grabbing the remote.
Grace scooped up the pile and riffled the edges, estimating the amount. “This is too much, Amos.”
“We made an agreement. I’m holding my end of it.”
He’d given her about a thousand dollars. Considering the sum on her credit card, she swallowed the bad taste in her mouth, folded the bills in half, and slid them into her pocket to hide in her backpack later. “Fine, but now that I’m staying here, I expect no more.”
“Fair enough.” He patted the cushion next to him. “Help me choose a movie.”
Grace picked up the popcorn bowl and ventured closer, but she didn’t sit.
Neither did Simon, whose attention was riveted to the Disney Channel offerings as Amos scrolled. “Cars!” he cried, recognizing the movie.
Amos frowned and kept scrolling. “Is there nothing based on a classic?”
Grace pointed at the screen. “Right there.The Jungle Book, rereleased in 2016.” In lieu of sitting next to Amos, she helped herself to the reclining armchair she suspected was his usual seat.
Amos flicked her a brooding look. “Ah, yes,The Jungle Bookby Rudyard Kipling. I read it as a boy. What do you think, Simon?”
“I wanted to watchCars,” he protested softly.
Cutting off Amos, who was about to override Simon’s wishes, Grace suggested, “Let’s watch the trailer forThe Jungle Bookand see what it’s about.”
Amos clicked on the trailer, and, by the time it was over, Simon was down on the rug, glued to the screen. “Let’s watch this one.”
Amos cast Grace a small, grateful smile. Apparently, he was okay with her sitting apart from him. After all, he was her employer, not her boyfriend, a fact that he’d made clear by paying her. And now she was accepting room and board in lieu of income. It was all very business-like.
Mowgli’s story quickly engrossed all three of them.
An hour and forty-five minutes later, Amos turned off the credits. “Well, that was good, though I like the book better.” He set down the remote and rolled to his feet. “Time for us to go to bed. I have an early wake-up.”
“You go,” Grace told him. “I’ll put Simon to sleep.”
Amos nodded. “Very well. Good night, Son.” In what was clearly a nightly ritual for them, he lifted Simon with a biceps curl and kissed him on the cheek, and Simon protested his tickly moustache. Envy pricked Grace. Soon she and Mateo would establish their own routines.
Putting his son down, Amos sent her a warm look that made her traitorous body long for a kiss, also.
“Sweet dreams, Grace. Turn out the lights behind you.” He turned his back on them and made his way to the master cabin, then slid the pocket door shut in his wake.
“Okay, Simon, let’s go brush our teeth.”
