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“Those things happen,” he said. “As I told Mom, you’re here and you’re safe.”
“Did she bitch about my father paying for the flight to you?” Blaze asked, laughing.
“Does it matter?”
“No,” Blaze said. “But she’s annoyed. She thinks he should have given me the couple hundred for books. Why? I work for that. It was my Christmas gift. Going to that game. He paid for the ticket and the flight and he’s paying for me to travel to stay with him. It’s not her business.”
“You should tell her that,” he said.
“I did. She only gets more pissed off. You can’t say anything to her. If you argue, she gets worse. You were lucky that you got out of there at eighteen and never went back. If my father were closer I’d do that. I might even spend the summer with him and find a job there. He said I could work construction with him and stay in the hotel.”
Didn’t sound like a fun summer to Knox, but he wasn’t going to give his opinion.
He weighed his words and found himself saying, “The summer is far enough off that things could change. If you don’t want to stay with Mom and can’t go to Texas for some reason, you could come to work for me and stay here. Not sure if you’re interested.”
“I don’t know anything about electricity or things like that.”
“You don’t need to to do grunt work,” he said, laughing. “I’ve always got a need for people to run wire and pick up, run errands. I’m crazy busy in the summer. But it’s your choice.”
“I’ll think about it,” Blaze said. “I really will. Is there anything we can do to help you here now?”
“Yeah,” Mark said. “My parents reminded me not to be a bum and help out.”
“It’s all good,” he said. “Not much to do. I’ve got a plow for the driveway. The rest is nothing major. It’s not like you’ve got winter clothes and I’ve only got one other winter jacket.”
He was grinning when he said that. Both boys flushed.
“We were thinking of a snowball fight later,” Blaze said.
“Visibility isn’t so great,” he said. “I’d rather not someone lose an eye and I try to get them to the hospital.”
“You’re such an adult,” Blaze said.
He looked at Sage who was laughing. “I was thinking the same thing,” she said, shrugging. “Come on and loosen up and have some fun.”
“Sounds like you might want to get pelted with some snowballs too,” he said, smirking.
“I suggested Mark build a snowman and get some selfies. He’s never seen this much snow before.”
“We might be able to accommodate that,” he said. “For now, we might as well hunker in. I’m sure you’ll both be bored, but the TV is working. The internet is too, for now, but not sure if that might go down or not.”
“We’ll be fine,” Mark said. “There are some cards and board games in the room I’m in.”
“Help yourself to anything while you’re here,” he said.
“I’m going to make a big pot of sauce and meatballs for dinner,” Sage said. “I know Knox got sandwich meat. I don’t think there are any more frozen pizzas in there.”
“Eat what you want,” he said. “I don’t care. Whatever you find, it’s yours.”
“Thanks,” Blaze said. “You’re much cooler than I remembered.”
“Even if I’m being an adult saying you needed to call Mom and that you weren’t dressed properly?”
“I called my parents last night,” Mark said. “My mother lectured me for ten minutes for not having a coat. You’re not nearly as bad as her.”
“That’s something at least,” he said drily. “I’m not old enough to be your father.”
“Nope,” Blaze said. “Just a great older brother.”
