Page 37 of Forever

“Not the way he can.”

I had no idea what that meant. “Use your imagination.”

His shoulders slumped. He went into the living room and fell face down onto the couch in despair.

Jacob.Where had he learned that move? I had a feeling he’d picked it up from Nigel. I wasn’t trying to torture him. I was just keeping him safe. “We can have cupcakes for dessert after lunch,” I said. “How does that sound?”

“Cuppycakes!” He pushed himself up and then jumped off the couch. He fell to his knees on the carpet and started crawling around making his own engine revving noises. He was fine. We were all fine.

I turned to the stove to start the tomato sauce when there was a knock on the door.

“Abuelo Tanner!” Jacob yelled and ran to the door.

I dropped my spoon and ran toward him. “Jacob, no!”

But he flung the door open before I had a chance to stop him.

“Oh, hi, Uncle James.” He said with a big smile. “Will you play trucks with me?”

So now he knew the word uncle? I’d have to teach him that for Tanner too. Although I did find it cute that he called him abuelo.

James crouched down to get on eye level with him. “That sounds like fun. But I need to talk to your mom first, okay, buddy?”

“Okay.” Jacob ran back to his toys.

James smiled and stood back up.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“You tell me.”

I sighed. “Matt sent you, didn’t he?”

James stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “We’re worried about you.”

I shook my head and walked back over to the stove. “I’m fine,” I said and turned off the burner before I accidentally burned the whole house down.

“I don’t know if that’s true, Brooklyn.” He leaned against the kitchen island. “Matt says you haven’t been leaving the house. You’re pushing him away.”

“I’m not pushing him away. I just want to be here. With him. I’ve told him that a thousand times.”

“But you don’t want to leave the house?”

“What do you want me to say? That I’m scared to leave?”

He nodded. “We can start with that. Why are you scared to leave?”

I folded my arms across my chest. “You know why.”

“No, I don’t. Your father took care of everything. You’re safe.”

Hardly.I just stared at him. “It’s never ending.”

“Penny took Scarlett and Liam to the park this morning. And came back home safely.”

“You have security guards following their every move.”

“Would that make you feel better? Having security? Because I can…”

---