Page 79 of Hearts of Fairlake

“I’m supposed to.”

Felix stared at him for a moment. “Or?”

Gray stared back at him. “It’s…I’m not ungrateful.”

“Are there other chores you’ve done this morning?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, so…” Felix glanced at me again, and I nodded, letting him handle this, as awkward as it was. It felt like something more in Felix’s territory than mine. “Can I ask you something?”

“I guess,” Gray answered, which wasn’t exactly aresounding yes, but it was something at least, cautious as it was.

“I don’t need you to give me details, but…wherever you were before, whether it was other foster homes or with your parents…was it that you had to do this kind of stuff around the house or you’d end up in trouble?”

“I…” Gray’s wariness increased. “Yes.”

“Bad trouble?”

“Uh—”

Felix noticed the growing panic and gave him a gentle smile. “I’m not trying to pry. I …know what that’s like. My parents were, uh…terrible people. One of their favorite things was to make sure my brother and I did all the stuff around the apartment, even when we were younger than you. And if we didn’t…well, there’s still proof on this body of mine of what my parents did if we didn’t do exactly what they wanted.”

Gray stared at him for a moment and then, strangely, looked at me. I wasn’t sure if he was wondering if I had a similar story or if he was asking for confirmation of what Felix was saying. Hoping it was the second, I gave him a grave nod of my head because there were definitely a few scars left on Felix’s body from his childhood.

Felix turned, lifting his shirt to show the puckered, almost completely circular scar on his left hip. “That…was a cigarette my mom used on me when I was eight and burned an egg that she screamed at me to make. There’s a couple of broken bones that have healed. Among a bunch of other things.”

Gray stared for a moment before getting to his feet and turning around to pull his shirt up slowly. It took everything in my being not to react as I saw the six-inch-long scar on his back that curled around one of his shoulder blades almost perfectly. It was jagged and messy, and Iwondered if that had been a blade or something else, like glass.

“Threw a bottle at you?” Felix guessed, and Gray dropped his shirt to nod and look down at the floor. “First time?”

A shake of the head.

“Last time they got you with that, then?”

A pause and then a nod.

“Alright,” Felix said softly, leaning onto the counter. “When you feel like it, I want to ask you to look at me.”

From anyone else, I would have called it smart, essentially giving Gray the choice of when to do it while still asserting the idea that Grayshoulddo it without being forceful. Considering it came from Felix, though, I knew he wasn’t thinking that cunningly and was simply acting from the heart to help Gray as best he could.

It took a couple of minutes while Felix made a point to busy himself running the dishwasher and cleaning out the sink while I made the coffee. While we did that, eventually, we heard the scrape of the dining chair, and when we looked up, Gray was sitting at the table once more, looking at Felix.

“Okay, you ready?” Felix asked softly.

Gray nodded, his hands out of sight in his lap, but I bet they were balled into fists.

“Alright, first things, if you want to sleep in on normal, not school days, by all means, do that. Luke and I will never require you to get up early in the morning to do chores. We can definitely make up a chore list for you if that would help, to break down everythingall of uswould be doing. You’re our responsibility, and we’re going to care for you, but you’re not our live-in servant, alright?”

Gray stared at him for a moment before nodding slowly. I couldn’t tell if he understood or was just telling Felix he heard him. I wouldn’t be surprised if this entire speech from Felix was a foreign concept to the boy. No one but Graywould probably ever know what had happened to him with his parents and at other foster homes.

“And as far as punishment for not doing chores, or…other things, like misbehaving, you’re never going to get hit, okay? We won’t scream at you and never insult or put you down…do you know what that means?”

“Put me down?”

“Yes, that.”

“Uh…” he looked around, obviously still nervous, but I watched him take a breath as if to steel himself. “Call me names. Like stupid fucker, or lazy?”

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