Page 56

He tried to roll out of the bed, but Bren grumbled and pulled him back, their legs brushing as A.J.’s eyes found the pile of pajamas at the foot of his bed.

How fast things could change from a dream to a living nightmare.

“Uh, y-yeah. One sec!”

Hoping his dad would put the break in his voice down to early-morning scratchiness, A.J. clasped his hand over Bren’s mouth and gave him a shake.

He grunted in annoyance but made to pull him closer still. A.J. inched away from his boyfriend's bare thighs and covered his mouth again.

Bren’s eyes fluttered open, and when they landed on the face hovering over him, they went wide with shock.

A.J. threw the blanket off his side of the bed to cover the sound of Bren scrambling upright.

“If you love me, keep quiet.”

Bren’s eyes shot around the room before falling on the hand clasped over his mouth. A.J. didn’t have time to make sure Bren had caught on, and he hopped out of bed to pull on a pair of pajama bottoms.

He pulled the door open and was nearly bowled over as a wagging ball of yellow fur bounded into the room, nose snuffling up the scents that had let him know there was a new friend in the house.

“He’s been whining at your door since I got up. Maybe he was worried you went back to Ireland.”

“Maybe. Poor guy,” A.J. said, holding back the snitch that, right now, couldn’t have cared less about him.

He jumped onto the bed as if he needed to hide Bren, and Rudy joined them, his backside wagging along with his tail as he slobbered over Bren’s paper-white face.

“Woah, yeah. He’s really worked up,” A.J. said.

Dad’s arms were crossed. He didn’t use his cane in the house. “Alright, well, now maybe he’ll let me make breakfast in peace.”

Yes, please go make breakfast. You’re the best dad ever.

“Chocolate chips, blueberries, or plain?”

“Huh?” A.J. asked, fighting through the blunt-force trauma that Rudy’s tail was inflicting on his skull.

“Pancakes. Unless you want chocolate chip eggs.”

A.J. blinked dog hair from his eyes. “Plain. Plain is fine.”

“OK. Blueberry for Holly, plain for A.J. And what about you, Bren?”

The smile on his dad’s face did absolutely nothing to quash the otherworldly mortification that tore through every cell of A.J.’s body.

He had to run away now, right? Or at least change his name.

The silence that blossomed was punctuated by Rudy’s enthusiastic tail, and it stretched out so long that A.J. was sure someone had put the world on mute.

“No pancakes for me, Mr. Walker. I’m gonna go walk into traffic.”

A.J. buried his face in his hands like it could protect him.

“Don’t see what there is to be embarrassed about. As far as I can tell, you two watched some movies and fell asleep. Just a good old respectable slumber party. Right, son?”

A.J. nodded into his hands as he tried to figure out where he’d get the funds to build a slingshot big enough to hurl him into the sun.

“Help me out, Bren. Did my son forget his dad’s blind and nod instead of saying yes?”

A.J.’s head snapped out of his hands. Bren looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.