Page 116 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“Well, for what it’s worth, this is exactly the conversation I was trying to figure out how to have, so it worked out.”

Myles could believe, given their history, that telling him to get professional help had been weighing on Ozzy’s mind. It had been one of the many things that had brought them to blows in the past. A lot of anger had washed away under the bridges they had both crossed since then. He could be grateful now that they hadn’t burned any of them behind them.

“On a completely unrelated note,” he said, “how’s Wyatt doing?”

“Jesus. That kid.” Ozzy let go of Myles and scrubbed both palms down his thighs. “He’s so fucking wholesome he makes my teeth hurt. It makes me want to punch someone to know that all some kids need is someone to tell them they’re okay just the way they are, and no one in their lives could be arsed to do that for them. Just that.”

“So I don’t have to worry about Jet hanging out with him.”

“No. Not from what I can tell. Literally all Wyatt wants is to finish high school, get a job and be a human in the world who isn’t getting shit on for being who he is.”

“Well.” Myles straightened too. “That’s why we’re here, right? To give them a safe place to do that. Make one small corner of the world less shitty.”

“It is.” Ozzy got up at the same time the back door of the Cabin opened, and Tris came out in bare feet and boxers. “Hey, babe.” Ozzy waved and smiled such a warm smile Myles’s heart hurt a little bit, but it felt more like a growing pain than regret.

Tris smiled back at him. “Okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Am now.” Ozzy held out a hand to his boyfriend. “Sorry if I was keeping you up.”

Tris shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I think Wyatt had a nightmare. Heard him rummaging through the fridge, so we were chatting a bit over celery and Cheez Whiz. He’s gone back to bed now. I think he’s still getting used to having a roof over his head when he sleeps.” He frowned at that. “I hate that he went through that.”

Ozzy pulled Tris against his side. “He’s here now. We can help him.”

Tris nodded. “Coming inside?”

Ozzy looked at Myles, who held up both hands. “Don’t let me keep you up.”

“Are you okay?” Tris asked him, squinting through the gloom.

“Definitely getting there.” He waved as he turned back to the Oaks. “Night.”

“Night, Myles.”

When he looked back, it was to see Ozzy and Tris sharing a kiss that wasn’t any of his business. He smiled to himself and went back inside.

This time, he made the effort to climb the stairs, stopping half way when his hip refused his weight, but eventually making it the whole way up. When he lay down, thoughts of Steven didn’t send him into a tailspin, which was nice in itself. And hearing the kids’ breathing softly in sleep was enough to calm his own nerves and think maybe Ozzy wasn’t just trying to make him feel better, but really did mean he believed in Myles.

He poked mentally at the sore spot that had always been that failed relationship. The usual ache didn’t materialize this time. Neither did he feel the numbness he felt when he poked at his sister’s place in his heart. He couldn’t say it was exactly warm and fuzzy, but it wasn’t painful either.

“Huh.” Was that what healing felt like?

CHAPTER TWENTY

Myles had enjoyed a longish spell of contentment when, on a blazingly hot Friday in the middle of August, Jet hit Myles with yet another bombshell.

“You want to what?”

“It was Wyatt’s idea, actually.”

“So let Wyatt do it.”

“He’s going to. The Y will sponsor him, because of his situation, as long as he’s staying at the Cabin and working on his high school equivalency. Lucky arranged it for him. But he asked me to do it with him.”

“How long is the course again?”

Jet scratched at the back of his neck and kicked a balled-up sock closer to the pile of other dirty laundry in the corner of his section of the room. “It starts in two weeks.”

Myles stopped tossing dirty clothes into a basket and straightened up. “In two weeks.”