Even though I wanted to disagree vehemently, I couldn’t. Because he was right. We didn’t trust him. Not with himself. And here he was, being more transparent than he’d been for a very long time, and all I wanted to do was sugarcoat the hell out of it.
Life doesn’t work that way, though. Not if you want to stay ahead of it.
“What happens in the fall,” I asked him instead, “if you don’t want to come back here?”
He fidgeted a little in his seat. “I don’t know. We stay in Seafare? Or I do and you guys come back here. Or we all come back here. Or I come back here on my—I know it’s a lot. You both have… things here. Your lives. Your jobs. Bear, you especially. Maybe I can just go by myself.”
“But…,” Otter said.
“But I don’t think you’d let me do that.”
“You’re damn right we wouldn’t,” I said. “I told you, Kid. I’m not taking my eyes off of you for the foreseeable future. Consider it your punishment for your less than desirable decisions.”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, trust me, I’m well aware of that.”
“Good. Just so we’re on the same page.”
“You can’t do this forever, Bear.”
“Watch me.”
“Otter?”
Otter chuckled. “Don’t look at me. You know I agree with Bear.”
“You guys suck,” the Kid muttered.
“Very well too.”
“Otter!” I yelped.
He blinked. “Wow. I don’t even know why I said that. I’m getting really good at jokes.”
“Yeah, maybe try a little harder,” the Kid said. “And also, thanks for making a conversation about me all about you.”
Otter shrugged. “I like being the center of attention. I deserve it after putting up with the two of you this long.”
“You love us,” I said, trying (and failing) to not make it sound like an accusation.
“A little bit,” he said, and I had to suppress the urge to jump him right then and there. Apparently minimal validation did it for me. Who knew.
“Anyway,” the Kid said, sounding disgusted. “Seafare? Thoughts? Concerns? Questions?”
“You really think this would be good for you?” Otter asked. “Seafare is… complicated. For you and Bear.”
“But there was more good than bad, right? I mean, we… survived.”
That wasn’t the best endorsement I’d ever heard, but I supposed I could work with it. “I do miss the Green Monstrosity,” I admitted. “And our family. But mostly the house.”
“And you haven’t signed a new contract yet,” Otter said, sitting back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
The Kid grinned, and even though it wasn’t as bright as it’d once been, it was something. “Could Corey come too? Stay the summer with us? He’d have to go to Arizona at some point, but we could figure that out later.”
I sighed. “You’ve already decided this, haven’t you.”
“Maybe a little.”
“Kid.”