“You, too, Jules.”
Jules started to take another step away from the group, but Theo caught her hand, squeezing it briefly before releasing. That was the second time in less than an hour that Theo had held her hand, Jules realized, and her smile grew huge as she met his gaze.
Thanks to that realization, Jules was almost skipping as she returned to work. There had been hand-holding and thigh-touching and same-plate eating. Jules had no idea what—if anything—all of that meant, but she was happier than she’d been in a long time, and she was determined to enjoy that feeling as long as she could.
Chapter 14
“How about a Great Pyrenees?” Dee asked on the tailside of a yawn, wiggling down on the bed. It was too warm for covers, even with the window open, so they were bunched at the bottom of the mattress. “My book said they’re excellent family dogs. They guard sheep when they’re…well, in the mountains, I suppose. We’d be like their sheep. They’d protect us.”
Jules wished something as simple as getting a dog could keep their family safe. “Did your book happen to mention how big they get?”
Dropping her eyes to the side, Dee gave an unconvincing shrug. “The girls don’t get more than, like, eighty pounds or…” Her voice dropped to a mumble.
“What was that?” Jules cupped her ear, leaning closer. “Eh? I didn’t quite catch that last part about how they get to be super-dooper enormously huge and would take up all the room in our big new SUV, even where the driver is supposed to go.” She poked a teasing finger into her sister’s ribs, exactly where she knew Dee was the most ticklish.
Starting to giggle, she twisted away from Jules. “We’d just have to teach her to drive.”
“Or you could find a smaller breed to obsess over,” Jules suggested. “Keep reading that dog book.”
“Okay.” Dee yawned again.
“Love you to bits, Dee.”
“Love you, too.”
“Good night.”
“’Night, Jules.”
Although she’d been sitting on the side of her sister’s bed for the past twenty minutes, Jules was reluctant to leave. It had been almost impossible to let the kids finish their first full day at school and not run in and drag them all out of class—kind of like when she’d kidnapped them, she realized. Even if the mention of homeschooling had been a joke, it was enormously tempting after the shooting.
Dee, who had closed her eyes, peeked at Jules before quickly snapping her eyes closed again. With a snort, Jules stood. “Don’t stay up too late reading.”
Keeping her eyes shut, Dee gave a tiny, guilty smile. “I won’t.”
Jules knocked on the odd, small elf door before ducking into Tio’s room. As she’d expected, it was empty. Crossing the room, she stepped into the open closet, pushed a few shirts aside, their hangers scraping against the rod, and knocked again, this time on the side of the opening they’d created.
Ty, lounging on the bed, and Tio, sitting in the hard-back chair—which, along with the adjacent desk, had been another thrift-store find—glanced over at her as she entered. Their weighted silence hung in the air, and she soundlessly sighed as she took a seat on the foot of Ty’s bed. “What’s up?”
“Nothing.” Their synchronized answer just made her more suspicious.
“Is it something that will endanger your health, lives, and/or safety?” she asked and received two negative head shakes in return. “Okay. Just try not to damage anything—or anyone. How was school?”
“Fine.” The chorus had returned.
Crossing her arms, she settled herself a little more firmly on the bed. “I can stay here all night.”
Ty was the first to crack. “School was school. My English teacher is a thousand years old, but Mrs. Lee—she’s my math teacher—is kind of hot. I like getting to repeat stuff from last year. Sometimes, I actually get what’s going on. I’m thinking about trying wrestling instead of football.”
Blinking, Jules absorbed that flood of information. “Wrestling? Okay. You know, you can do both, if you want. Wrestling won’t start until January, right? We’ll figure out a way to pay the fees.”
“Yeah.” The boys shared a private look, and Jules wondered what kind of plotting they were up to. “With everything being all new here and stuff, I’m going to skip football.”
“That’s probably smart.” She turned to Tio. “Your turn, T. Hot math teacher? Old English teacher? Changes in extracurriculars? Share.”
“There’s a science club.” His hushed tone was almost reverent.