Page 43 of No Kind Words

“Then you can go home when you want, but I’ve got my room here. You can both go to your place when you’re fed up with having quiet sex. Which you don’t, by the way. I’m gonna need earplugs or some noise-cancelling headphones.”

We both crack up laughing. My cheeks heat a little at the thought of him hearing us. But I reckon he heard and saw way worse than us. “He’s got a point.”

“Fine.” Jethro throws his arms up, exasperated.

I step up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist, resting my chin on his shoulder. “That’s what I like to hear, such enthusiasm and happiness.”

“Fuck off,” he grumbles, but he’s smiling, and I kiss his neck.

“Can we eat now?” Roddy moans. “I’m starving.”

It amazes me how he can go from literally starving to complaining that his dinner, probably his fourth meal today, is late. “Anything for you, son.”

The word slips easily from my lips. The room goes still, like frozen in time. Screeching of the chair on the tiles breaks the silence, and Roddy rushes up to me, wraps his arms around my waist, and buries his face in my chest. Jethro moves behind him, and we all stand in a hug, crying as we recognise the new chapter of our lives. In such a crazy short time, we’ve become a family.

“Come on, then, before you waste away, but you two are on washing-up duty.” I wipe a hand down my face, emotion coursing through me.

“Can I cook tomorrow?” Roddy uprights his chair and sits down again.

“I’m sorry,” Jethro says when we get into bed. “I didn’t mean it to sound like I didn’t want to live with you. I was more cross that I didn’t see that I may have needed more rooms.”

“No one could have expected to have a boy in desperate need turn up at the door. I get it, though. And you’re right that we may need some time apart. Late nights and busy schedules can lead to tension. Can we agree to talk through anything and not to get pissed off without discussing the problem? Probably a good idea to say the same thing to Roddy too.”

“Yeah, I like that. What do you think we should do about school for him? I doubt he’ll want to go back and be two years behind his peers. He does need more education, though, even if it’s only maths and English to start. I think he’s clever, but I’m not sure how he’ll cope in a classroom.”

“We should talk to Trent, Merlin’s boyfriend. He was a secondary school teacher. Science, I think, but he may know what we have to do. Maybe online classes? I haven’t a clue.”

“Good idea. It’s a good job you know everybody.” Jethro kisses me, then pulls away. “We should order those headphones.”

“Tomorrow.” I laugh and kiss him back.

“How did it go?” I ask Roddy as he comes into the café kitchen. My fingers still in the bowl of cake mix. I don’t like the frown on his forehead. “Roddy, what happened?”

“Nothing, nothing happened because I’m stupid and thick and don’t know anything.” He slumps down on the stool by the icing table and sways from left to right, despondency written all over his face.

I wash my hands of all the flour, pull the other stool up, and sit next to him. I lay my hand gently on his head, which rests on the table. “Okay, first of all, you are not stupid or thick. You’re an intelligent young man who can do anything he sets his mind to. And second, you know plenty of things. What were the classes today?”

Trent has been giving Roddy tutor sessions for two hours twice a week, and this is only week two. Jethro has talked to Trent, who has had nothing but praise for Roddy and said he’s coping well.

“English. It’s the books. I don’t understand them. It’s all too wordy, and I’m not good with words.” He huffs out a long sigh as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders. I feel sorry for him and understand him. I was never that good at English Lit.

“What book are you reading?”

“Animal Farm and it’s dumb. Why the hell are animals important?”

He’s got a point. I didn’t like that book, and what happened to Boxer still haunts me after nearly twenty-five years. “I read that one too, so maybe we can work through it together. I remember parts of it, and we can get a study aid book too. You don’t have to push yourself. You’re two years behind with schoolwork, but you’re years ahead in life experiences. You’ll be able to use that to understand the story.”

I wrap my arm around his shoulder and give him a hug. He relaxes and leans against me.

Another deep sigh escapes him. “Why aren’t all dads like you and Jet? My dad never helped with anything. He was mean. You two aren’t mean. You’re kind and funny and everything.”

Just like that, when I think he can’t say anything that will break my heart, he comes up with something new. “Do you want to help me with the muffins for tomorrow? Then we can take Hope for a walk on the beach.”

He sits up straight. “Yeah, that would be good.”

As soon as I get him weighing and measuring, he tells me why he’s finding it difficult with Trent. By the time we’ve finished walking on the beach, we’ve worked out a plan of action. Roddy smiles when Jethro walks towards us. Isla has raced ahead to the sea and Hope.

Jethro hugs the still-skinny kid and kisses the top of his head. “You look happy,” he says. Then he tugs at my hand, and I get a proper kiss, not too over the top but enough to set the fire in my belly to a slow burn, a hint of what’s to come later.

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