Chapter 20 #4
“She had friends!” He shot upright again, spinning to face Myles. “She had people in her life who could have helped if she’d bothered to tell them. She didn’t have to put all that stress on just you. It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t safe.”
“I handled—we—handled it.”
Jet pulled in a ragged breath. “But it was harder than it had to be, and you—” He gulped and blinked hard, his dark lashes spiking with wetness.
“You think you were an asshole to drag us here just so you could have what you needed. Selfish. But I’m glad you did.
How were you ever going to look after me and Shells if you were falling apart?
And don’t even try to deny you were falling the fuck apart. ”
“I was falling apart,” Myles echoed. Why deny it? He turned too, so they were face to face. “Are you scared to go back because you’re scared I’ll fall apart again?”
Jet pushed out his chin and swiped at tears on his cheek. “Are you?”
“Yes.”
“Well. Me too.”
“Your father wants to meet you.”
“Fuck him.”
“Jet—”
Shelly took that moment to come running and fling herself at her big brother and wrap both chubby arms around his neck.
Unprepared, Jet went sprawling back in the grass with a grunt, Shelly on top of him. The dogs also piled on, and it took a moment of wriggling limbs, laughing and yipping to get them all sorted out. Finally Jet pushed himself back upright, shooed the dogs off, and settled Shelly in his lap.
She patted his damp cheek. “Don’t cry, ’kay, J-J?”
Jet nodded, but his smile for her was still pretty watery. “So.” He looked at Myles over her head. “Is that what he wanted, then? To ask to meet me?”
Myles nodded.
“Why?”
“You’re his son?”
“Been his son for sixteen years. Why now? Because of Mom?”
“Partly, I expect.”
“But?”
Myles sighed. There was no easy way to say it. “He’s dying.”
Jet’s expression didn’t change. “Of?”
“No idea.”
“Is it genetic?”
“Jesus.” That thought hadn’t even entered Myles’s head. “Fuck me.” His stomach sank like a rock, making him queasy.
“Swear jar!” Shelly shook a finger at him.
“Sorry, baby. You’re right.” He patted her sun-warm hair, marvelling that she was so very, perfectly herself.
“Then we have to do it,” Jet said. “To find out.” He squared his shoulders. “I want to know.” He slumped. “I suppose if we leave in the next couple of days, we can get back in time for school.” He looked on the verge of real, genuine, painful tears.
“Hey.” Myles patted his knee. “Don’t worry. We will figure this out, like we’ve figured the rest out.”
“Maybe without the yelling,” Jet agreed.
“Without the yelling.” He took stock of his joints. “And only if I can ever get up again.”
This time, when Jet smiled, even though he also sniffled a bit, it was as genuine as the tears had been. “Need a hand?”
“If you clap…”
Shelly did, gleefully, as Jet hauled Myles to his feet.
After that talk, Myles needed to see Steven with a kind of desperation that terrified him.
But as much as he needed it, the kids needed his presence more, so he spent the rest of the day fumbling through making potato salad and grilling burgers for their supper, then pretended he didn’t notice when Kreed scraped his burgers off the grill and replaced them with fresh ones that he proceeded to cook to perfection.
Jet had assured him that he, Shelly, and Wyatt were fine up in the attic watching cartoons on his laptop.
Myles tilted his head. “Child-appropriate cartoons, I hope.”
“Did you know Wyatt has never seen The Last Airbender series? Apparently it’s anti-Christian.”
“The hell?”
Jet shrugged. “He’s here now,” he said simply.
“And you’re sure you’re still straight?”
“Fuck yes.”
“Language.”
“We like all the same things. He’s cool.”
“You’re going to miss him.” He didn’t have to ask. He could tell by the way Jet and Wyatt were spending every possible moment together, just as he wanted to do with Steven.
“Don’t make it weird.”
“Absolutely nothing wrong with a strong friendship. Remember why it’s here we came when I needed support.”
Twisting his lips, Jet shrugged and studied the floor. “It isn’t like we had the same lives. His parents were dicks. I was really lucky. But I don’t miss Mom every breath when we’re hanging out. And he gets it when I go quiet. Maybe if he came with—”
Myles put a hand on Jet’s shoulder, cutting him off, heart twisting, because he intimately knew Jet’s desire to have someone like Wyatt close, but he also realized what Wyatt needed. “Understand, I want Wyatt to have every chance of getting his life back on track, yeah?”
Another nod.
“And with everything we’re dealing with, I don’t think that would be the best thing for him. Here, he has a lot of people in his corner. There he’d only have us, and we have too many distractions right now to be the kind of support he needs.”
“Figured you’d say something like that. Ozzy sort of said the same thing.”
“The stars must be aligning,” he muttered.
Jet glanced up. “What?”
“Me and Ozzy agreeing on something.”
“Whatever. I’m going up.”
“You do that. Call if you need anything.”
“Yeah!” He was already halfway up the stairs, so Myles let him go, and headed out the front door himself, still bemused about Jet getting the same advice from Ozzy that Myles had offered. Would wonders never cease.