Page 44 of George’s Big Day

I glanced at Brad, whose furrowed brows and crossed arms told me he wasn’t happy. Thomasin slipped her hand around his bicep and leaned her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead, but I could tell from his expression that she’d only helped a little.

I couldn’t help the fact that the boys had explicit faith in me. I’d killed the men holding them and made sure they were safe afterward. Much like Hannah, her brother, and their friends, Toby and Dennis had the same feeling of safety when I was around. It happened when I unleashed lethal force on bad people.

Dennis moved closer to me, arm around my shoulder. “Thank you for taking care of that situation with Billy Shelton for me.”

It sounded vaguely like covert ops when he said it like that. Damn ten-year-old and his ridiculous vocabulary. Situation indeed.

“No worries,” I said, and wrapped him in my arms for a moment, squeezing tight.

He hugged me back, and when he let me go, I did as well, heeding Kurt’s words that always, the kid needed to be the one to say when. When I turned from him, Toby had a look like he too wanted a hug but wasn’t sure how to ask for one.

“Thank you for being at my wedding,” I said, and opened my arms for him.

Instant smile before he bumped into me, and I squeezed him tight. I noted that he didn’t release me as quickly as his brother, having been, I suspected, a bit more concerned about the men he’d seen the marshals escort off the property. Thomasin had mentioned that Toby was the more introspective of the two, holding on to things longer, running them over and over in his head.

When he eased back, he looked better, brighter, relieved, and then Kola, Hannah’s brother, came by with a soccer ball under his arm and asked Thomasin and Brad if the boys would like to kick around the ball with him and Finn. As they’d met him earlier, knew his connection to me, knew Finn worked with me, that was fine with them. The boys were both very happy to have something to do other than pick at appetizers and sit by the fire.

Rising, I waited while Brad formed his thoughts. When it started to take a bit longer than I thought it would, and as I had other people to talk to, I opened my mouth to offer a solution, since that was what I did. I fixed things.

Thomasin shook her head at me, so I waited some more.

“I want the boys to look to me for protection,” he finally got out.

What was I supposed to say in response? Sorry, Brad, they saw me kill the bad guys that were going to hurt them? “Okay.”

“That means you have to give me an opportunity to take care of things first.”

I cleared my throat. “I will remind you that I live in Chicago, and you live with them in Portland. I think you’ve got the jump on me there, Brad.”

He didn’t appear convinced.

Smiling, I swatted his arm. “It’s because we’re all here right now that they sought me out.”

“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “For all the small stuff, yes, they come to me or their mother, but for bigger things, I don’t even hear about it until… Like Billy.”

“Yeah, what was that about?” Thomasin asked us both.

Brad huffed out a breath. “Mrs. Rivera had me pull out of the pickup line the other day and told me she wasn’t sure what Dennis’s uncle had said to Mr. Shelton, but she appreciated that we had resolved the issue between us, the two families. She seemed very relieved that she would not need to be involved and that no escalation was necessary.”

Both Brad and Thomasin looked at me.

I smiled back.

“You’re all the way in Chicago,” Thomasin said. “What did you do?”

“Hannah had an event in Portland, and it was just for the evening. We left later that night, or I would have stopped for a visit.”

“What you’re telling me is, you had time to go see this Billy Shelton’s father, but not us?”

I made a face.

“Oh, I see,” she muttered. “You saw Dennis, didn’t you.”

“I did.”

“He never said a word,” she nearly growled.

“He was embarrassed. He didn’t want you or Brad to know he was being bullied. He didn’t want you to talk to his teacher and then have it become a whole thing. Mrs. Rivera only found out because Toby told her.”