“And what has Grey been doing in the past week?”
The silence this time seemed even heavier. Not avoidance or anxious. Just sad.
“Not much,” Baer said.
“He stays hiding up in his apartment, sitting in the dark.” Lucien paused and winced. “Not that I guess that matters since he can’t tell it’s dark.”
“Grey’s always kept to himself. He’s a hardcore introvert, even more than me,” Wiley added. “He writes books and prefers to stay up in his apartment most of the time, but he always came to the main house for meals and to socialize in the evenings. We miss him.”
“He told me he hasn’t been writing since all this started.”
Wiley shook his head.
“I’m sure Grey misses all of you as well, but he’s working through a lot of difficult emotions right now. My focus is going to be on giving him the skills he needs to feel comfortable in this life, whether it’s temporary or permanent. I can help some with the emotional side, but it’s mostly about giving him his confidence back. I will be discussing with him options for seeing a psychologist or social worker to talk through some of his emotions and anxieties.”
Everyone nodded and Lucien sat forward, resting his forearms on his knees.
“What can we do for him? We don’t want to slow up his progress or fuck up anything you’re helping him with.”
Cort grinned. “Actually, what I’ve got for all of you is probably harder than even my job. You’ve got to give him a taste of normal. Right now, it’s one of the things he’s missing the most. His entire world has been thrown off-balance. All the things he took for granted, he can’t do now or simply struggles to do. He needs to feel normal. He needs you to treat him the same as you always did.”
“He needs to get his ass out of that apartment,” Clay growled.
Cort nodded and turned his eyes on Dane. “That means no more meals brought to him. If he always ate in the main house with the rest of his family, then he needs to do that again.”
Dane’s shoulders slumped and he blushed. “I know he feels safe in his apartment. I didn’t want to push too much.”
“He’s had a week of babying. I didn’t see any sign of other physical problems that would keep him from living a normal life. He’s a grown-ass man. He needs to be treated like one.”
Dane nodded and Cort was surprised by Baer’s cackle.
“It’ll be nice to give him shit again.”
Lucien snorted. “I don’t recall you ever stopping.”
Baer held up one hand, his index finger and thumb spaced about an inch apart. “I cut back a little.”
“Okay, normal. We can do that,” Dane said with a nod that only made Cort smile more.
“He’s not going to make it easy on you. That’s a damn stubborn man I met today, and I imagine that he’s going to be worse on you because you’re family. He’ll feel like he can get away with it.”
“We’ll stick to our guns,” Clay confirmed. “What else? Is there anything we should do to the house for him?”
Baer snorted. “You sound like you’re gonna put child locks on the cabinets and cover up the plugs.”
“I’m still trying to put a child lock on your mouth,” Clay grumbled.
Cort bit his bottom lip and looked down at his hands to keep from laughing. He could imagine Grey missing this. He was going to miss it when he walked out the door. He was enjoying living in Savannah, but he hadn’t made any close friends yet. Life had been all about work. And while he wasn’t much of an introvert on the job, things changed when it came to a more social setting. It was probably a good sign that he needed to get out more if he was coveting Grey’s family.
“You can laugh at them. They’re all idiots,” Lucien muttered.
“Hey!” Dane and Wiley cried out in unison, glaring over at the man.
Lucien immediately threw his hands up to defend himself, his mouth crooked in a half grin. “I take it back. You two are okay. Baer, Clay, and Grey are idiots.”
“That’s better,” Wiley huffed, flopping against Baer who only snorted.
“Owls. Owls nesting outside your bedroom window,” Baer whispered and Cort had no clue what he was talking about. Was he threatening to get owls to settle by Lucien’s bedroom?
“Anyway,” Clay said with a heavy sigh.
“For now, the main thing you can do for the house is keep it tidy. No shoes randomly left on the floor for him to trip over. Don’t leave dirty dishes on the counters. But also, don’t move things without showing him how and where you moved them. Keep in mind that he’s working from a memory of the house.” Cort paused and took a quick glance around at what he could see. The kitchen had been clean, and the only thing on the breakfast table had been a stack of letters and a vase of yellow wildflowers. There were few random things on the floor in the family room—a pair of shoes and a couple of magazines—but he’d seen far worse. “Remember that your laziness could mean broken bones or worse for him.”