Chapter Twenty-Two
Winter
Once we were seated and had eaten a few bites, Maggie said to Miles, “Everything’s so delicious. The ziti is perfect. Mm.”
He sent her a soft smile. “Thanks. It’s pretty easy to make if you want the recipe.”
“I definitely do. And the barbeque too, please.” Miles nodded at her, and she stuffed her face with another bite and waited until she swallowed it to say, “What about the potato salad? It kinda tastes like my mom’s, but it’s a little different.”
Miles nudged me. “That was all this guy.”
I nudged him back, sending him a private smile before facing Maggie. “Yeah, I made it. I used Mom’s recipe, but I added a little something extra.”
Maggie chimed in. “Honestly, Win, this is way better than Mom’s. You need to tell me your secrets.”
I snorted. “Thanks, Mags. And sure, if you want.”
She smiled at me. “Or I can just ask you to bring some every time I have a party.”
My chest felt like it’d been opened wide, my heart hanging out for everyone to see. “I… I’d like that.” Fuck, would I like that.
She smiled, and Nash nodded. “That’s definitely a great idea. I hate peeling potatoes.”
Everyone laughed at that and went back to eating.
“So, Nash,” I said after I’d finished my third plate—and definitely not my last—of the night. “I hear you’re a musician?"
“I am.” He did a little head nod thing with a shoulder shrug, like maybe he was embarrassed to admit it. It was… endearing.
“What do you play?”
“Uh, I play a little bit of everything that most bands need for recording—so guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, and I sing backup sometimes.”
“That sounds amazing,” Aeson said, moving closer to us so he could join in the conversation.
Nash grinned at him. “Thanks. It’s a lot of fun. I’m lucky I found something I love so much.”
I glanced over to find Chaos and Lyric still talking, and they both seemed okay, so I refocused on Nash. “Do you have a main instrument or a favorite?”
He did that little nod-shrug thing again. “I go back and forth between the drums and bass. They’re both a lot of fun, and I feel like I get to play around with them a little more than I do when I’m playing guitar.”
“That’s cool. I hear you’re in a band too?”
“Yep. We write our own music, so we don’t play shows a lot since it’s just for fun. We’re not trying to, like, make money doing it or anything.”
Miles said, “That’s awesome. Can you guys let us know when your next show is? We’d love to come see you play.”
Nash looked genuinely surprised. “Really?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. That sounds like fun.”
Maggie said, “That would be so awesome. I barely ever have anyone to go with.”
“Really?”
She nodded, and Ace said, “Too bad I can’t come.” His frown was so deep, I wanted to hug him.
Nash said, “Sometimes we play all-ages shows.”
Ace’s eyes lit up. “Really? Oh my god, I love live music.”
“Do you play anything?”
Ace shrugged. “I used to play guitar a little, and I played trombone in school.”
“You don’t play anymore?”
He bit his lip. “Well… I do, I just… don’t do it as much as I want.”
Nash asked him what kind of guitar he had, and Ace started going on and on, gesturing with his hands excitedly. And Nash was being so good with him. It was so freaking adorable.
I leaned closer to my sister and quietly said, “I like him. He seems really nice.”
“Yeah?” She smiled at me. “He’s a really good guy. He makes me happy.”
I nudged her. “I can tell.”
When I glanced at Miles, he gave me a nod, and I was somehow able to interpret that as approval for Nash. He likely picked up on his emotions and his… vibe or whatever it was that Miles read, and he liked the guy.
Maggie had to work the next day, so they decided to head home around ten. I was sad to see them go, but my sister gave me the biggest hug ever.
When she released me, she said, “Let’s make plans soon, okay? We’re really busy next weekend, but maybe we could get together the weekend after that? I shouldn’t have any shifts then.”
“Yeah, that’d be great. Text me. We can all hang out here again, or maybe go out for dinner or something.”
She nodded. “I mean it, Win. I want to see you again really soon.”
My eyes felt hot and wet, but I blinked furiously to keep the tears back. “Yeah… me too.”
She gave me another hug before moving over to Miles. My boyfriend hesitated before giving her a quick hug. As soon as she let go, he reached over for me, so I knew he was overwhelmed by her touch. Shit.
I gave his hand a squeeze, but I was distracted by Nash standing in front of me, saying, “It was so good to meet you, Win. Thank you for giving her another chance. She’s been… wanting to reach out to you for so long. She’s missed you.”
I nodded. “I missed her too.”
He sent me a soft smile. “You have my number now too, right?”
I nodded.
“Good. I’ll let you know the dates of my shows, and hopefully, I’ll see you in two weeks.”
“We’ll make plans.”
“Good.” He held his hand out to shake, so I took it, releasing Miles for a short moment so I could pull Nash into a bro-hug. I patted his back a few times before releasing him.
“See you soon.”
He gave me a nod, and I reached for my boyfriend again as we watched them walk out.
After shutting the door, Miles wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me in, hugging me to his side. He kissed my cheek, murmuring, “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that was… a good visit.”
“It was. I like Nash.”
“Me too.” I kissed his temple. “Thank you for… everything.”
He turned and hugged me for a few seconds. “You don’t need to thank me. But you’re welcome. I’m glad we did this.”
“Me too.”
“You’re really going to make plans with them, right?”
“Of course. We’ll look at our schedules later, yeah?”
He smiled up at me. “Yeah.”
We gave each other a soft kiss before fully releasing one another and walking back into the dining room where Lyric and the twins were pigging out on the desserts.
The kids stayed later than I expected, and when it was time for them to go, Miles loaded them up with a shit-ton of food.
He gave Maggie and Nash a lot too before they’d left, and he’d made a whole bag full of food for Lyric.
He tried to give me some, but I argued that I’d just eat it here with him this weekend.
That made him happy.
“Do you guys need a ride home?” I asked, already grabbing my keys and wallet. “I’ll drive you.”
Chaos glanced at me, then away. “Uh, it’s on the other side of town. We can walk.”
“I insist. Look at all that stuff you’re carrying.” They had three big reusable bags full of food between the two of them. “I’ll drive you. Miles can come too.”
The twins exchanged a look and did that silent-conversation-twin-thing before Aeson said, “Okay, sure. Thanks.”
“No problem.” I walked into the kitchen to grab Miles. He and Lyric were still cleaning up. “Hey, Miles, do you want to come with me to drop the kids off at home?”
Miles looked up, and I could tell he wanted to come, but he was also in the middle of clean up, so he wasn’t sure he should.
Lyric waved him away. “Go with them. I’ll stay here and finish up.”
“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to—”
Lyric cut him off. “You didn’t ask; I offered. It’s almost done anyway. I’ll just finish up while you guys run out.”
“You sure?”
“Yeppers, babes.” It made me smile that Lyric called him babes too. That was like a rite of passage. Lyric only used all their terms of endearment on people they liked.
I also loved that Miles didn’t seem to even think twice about leaving my best friend in his house alone.
I loved that they were becoming friends.
“Go. Shoo.” Lyric literally shooed Miles out of the kitchen, making him laugh.
I kissed him on the cheek as he passed me, and he offered a smile as I winked at him. I looked at Lyric with a big grin. “Thanks, Lyr.”
They waved me away, not even paying attention to me anymore.
We collected Miles’s things, grabbed Sola, and headed out to my car. Goliath was fine at Miles’s home, so I wasn’t worried about him.
Miles sat in the passenger seat with the kids in the back, and Aeson gave us directions. It took less than ten minutes to get to their street, but when I asked, “Which house?”
“It’s—”
Chaos interrupted whatever Aeson was about to say. “You can just stop at the corner. We’ll walk from there.”
“You sure? We don’t mind.” I stopped the car where he’d pointed.
The kids started getting out, and Chaos said, “We have to go around to the back door because our parents are probably asleep already. They told us to go in back there so we don’t wake them.”
That sounded… like a lie, but when I looked at Miles, he shook his head. Guess we weren’t calling him on it.
“Thanks for all the food and for… everything,” Aeson said as he got out, shutting his door.
“Anytime, Ace,” Miles said as he rolled down his window. “Seriously, if you guys need anything at all, please call us, okay?”
Aeson stared at him for a long moment before he gave a hesitant nod and a whispered, “Alright.”
Chaos popped his head back in, saying, “Thank you, guys. Night.” Then he slammed the door before we could respond.
Miles called out, “Good night, guys. Call us if you need us.”
Chaos held his hand up in a wave without turning around, and Aeson spun to give us a nod since his hands were full. We sat there and watched them walk down a driveway and into a backyard before they disappeared.
Miles rolled his window up with a sigh. “Where do you think they’re really going?” He gestured around to the houses. “There’s no way they live here.”
He was right. This was a nicer neighborhood with houses much bigger than mine or Miles’s. Those kids didn’t look like they came from a rich family.
“I mean… I guess they could live here if their parents just… choose not to feed them or buy them new clothes.”
Miles sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Do you… do you think they’re unhoused?”
I sighed. “The thought crossed my mind.”
“Fuck. I gotta… I gotta find out. Maybe I should call Higgins.”
My body tensed at the mention of that man.
It wasn’t that I disliked him or anything like that.
Honestly, I didn’t know the guy at all. But I did know that every time he’d stopped by or Miles had spoken to him over the phone, it put my guy in a weird mood.
He was almost always upset and didn’t seem to know how to handle it.
And I hated it.
I hated that this Higgins guy put Miles through that every time.
But I could tell Miles wanted to be his… friend. He’d spoken about him enough, and I couldn’t really explain it, but I… sensed it. I wasn’t the empath, but I sometimes felt like I could read Miles pretty well. And I wanted him to have everything he wanted.
If that meant befriending this Higgins guy, then that was what I wanted him to do.
But it was a strange time to bring him up. What did a detective have to do with the twins?
I asked, “What can he do about it? I don’t think we should get the police involved before we know what’s going on.”
Miles waved that away. “I would never in a million years call the police on a runaway or unhoused person. Not without knowing why they were in the situation to begin with.”
“Okay… then why talk to Higgins?”
He sighed. “Because he might be able to look into the kids’ parents and see if they’re on the police’s radar or anything. And he might be able to give us a true address for them.”
“But won’t the police go check on them or something?”
He shook his head. “Not if I tell Higs to keep it quiet. He won’t betray my trust.”
For some reason, I had a feeling there was more to that sentence than he was saying out loud, but just like the brooding teenagers, I was afraid to push too hard on those kinds of subjects. Miles might shut down on me, and I didn’t want that.
“Okay, then… you’ll let me know what he finds out, right?”
Miles looked at me with a small smile. “Of course I will.”
He said it with so much conviction that my worries over the Higgins guy faded away.