He blinked at her, looking shocked.
“Juliet, do I need to come there?” His tone was completely serious. And she knew he meant it
Her eyes widened. “No!”
“Tell. Me.”
“You have enough on your plate, Reuben. And nothing is wrong.”
There was silence. Then he suddenly looked thoughtful. “How are the bodyguards working out?”
Reuben was exceptionally smart. He was very good at reading people, so she knew she had to tread carefully.
“Okay, I guess. Don’t really like having strangers living with me. Have you fixed the problem yet?” she asked hopefully.
Well, she tried to sound hopeful. She wasn’t sure why she felt this stab of sadness at the thought of Brick leaving. She didn’t want him here.
“Not yet. I’m getting close, though. I wasn’t sure you’d slip into Little space with strangers around.”
Normally, she wouldn’t. But she felt safe up here. No one could get in unless they had her pin code. And only Xavier and Reuben knew that.
Sometimes, there didn’t seem to be much of a line between her adult and Little self. They were almost one. Which she wasn’t sure was a good thing or not. It would be too easy to lose herself in Little space.
There are times when you have to adult, Juliet.
Those times just usually sucked.
“They give me lots of space.” She was going to have to tell him something about what happened today to distract him.
“Do they? Not too much, I hope. They’re supposed to be guarding you.”
“They give me just the right amount of space,” she added hastily.
“Hm. I spoke to Brick last night. He was concerned about the medical reason for you not being able to talk to them. Seemed shocked when I told him there was none. Did you lie to him, Mini?”
She shrugged. “Not exactly.”
“Mini,” he said softly.
“Reuben. I love you. But you have to stop worrying about me so much. I’m all right. You have enough going on.”
“I’m never not going to worry about you.”
“I know, just . . . I got this shit covered.”
He studied her. She didn’t have anything under control and he damn well knew it.
“Where’s Xavier?”
She frowned at the question. “He had to go see his parents. His mom is sick.”
“Really?” Reuban said thoughtfully. “I’ll call him.”
“Be nice,” she warned, knowing they no longer got on well. It made her sad that they’d once been friends and had a falling out two years ago. Neither of them would tell her what it was over, either. But soon after, Xavier had moved back here to Wishingbone.
“Tell me about today. Please.”
And because he said please, she spilled her guts. It actually felt good to get it out.