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“Brooks,” she said, turning the kettle on.
“You don’t want to tell me. Which bar? Where is it? What time are you going to be working? And will his driver be bringing you back every night? Because it’s not safe to take the bus this late.”
“You know that I’m the adult, right?” she shot back.
“I’m sixteen years old, Aunt Effie. I’m not a child.”
She closed her eyes at the hurt note in his voice. Then she opened them again as the water boiled.
“You’re right, you’re not.” She attempted to reach up for the hot chocolate that was stashed up high so that she wouldn’t drink it all the time, but she let out a pained grunt.
Then she felt him behind her, reaching up to grab the tin.
“Thank, honey,” she murmured.
“Your back hurting?” he asked.
“I had a bit of a fall caused by a spasm in my back. But I took some pain pills.”
“Did you eat with them?” he asked worriedly.
Turning, she wrapped her arms around him. He stiffened, then he awkwardly patted her back. He wasn’t big on hugs anymore. She missed six-year-old Brooks, who’d hugged her all the time.
Letting go, she leaned back to look up at him. “How’d you get so tall?”
“It’s all that spinach you made me eat.”
“Gag. We don’t even say that word in this household, you know that.”
He grinned down at her. Then, that grin slowly faded. “I know things are bad money-wise since you lost your job.”
“Brooks, that’s not for you to worry about.”
“Hard for me not to worry about when I know you’re going without just to make sure that I have enough.”
Fuck. She should have known he’d catch that. Her boy was smart and observant.
“I’m going to quit school and get a job.”
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You are not.”
“We need the money. It’s not right that you’re not sleeping and stressed because we’re running out of money. And I don’t like that strange men are bringing you home at night.”
“Okay, let’s just take a moment to talk about this. I’m going to get into my pajamas and take off my make-up. You make the hot chocolates.”
“There’s no whipped cream.”
“Which is a huge tragedy, but I’ll be able to buy more. Because I have a job now.”
He didn’t look much happier, but he nodded.
After she got ready for bed, she came out to find he’d already folded the sleeper sofa out into a bed for her.
Damn, he was a good kid.
He handed her a hot chocolate as she walked up to where he stood at the end of the bed.
“I just want to help.” He gave her a stubborn look.
