He peered up at Liv, uncertain.
“It’s your decision.”
“Say yes, Brodie, please,” Sadie pleaded. “Once we’re done with schoolwork, I’ll take you fishing.”
This excited her son. “Okay.”
Zeke angled his and Sadie’s body so he could see her face. “Would you mind showing Brodie to his room? I set up the entertainment system. Maybe you could show him the ropes.”
“Sure.” She reached down and picked up Brodie’s backpack. “Wow, what do you have in here?”
Zeke smiled, remembering he had a similar reaction to picking up Liv’s bag.
Brodie snatched his pack out of her hands and knifed his arm through a shoulder strap. “Just stuff.”
Sadie shrugged and motioned for him to follow. “Come on.” They ran up one of two sets of stairs leading off the Great Hall.
Clara sighed. “If only I still had that kind of energy.” She touched Liv’s arm. “I’ll take good care of him. Zeke has my phone number. Call me any time to check in on his status.”
“It’s so kind of you to take him on.”
“Don’t pin any angel wings on me. I assure you, I have ulterior motives.”
Liv liked this woman already. “Oh?”
“I’m hoping he’ll help me tire out my daughter. I’d give a pinky finger for one hour of quiet with my favorite book.”
“Are you a Sandra Brown fan?”
“Who isn’t?”
“I have her latest in my suitcase. It’s amazing—”
Clara held up her hands. “Don’t tell me. I’m about five years behind on my reading.”
Liv pantomimed locking her lips and throwing away the key.
“I’ll leave you now so you can get settled in. How about I send Sadie to fetch your son at eight-thirty tomorrow morning?”
“He’ll be waiting.”
Once she disappeared through the front door, a pin-drop silence enveloped them.
Liv cleared her throat. “Thank you for helping Brodie feel comfortable here. He and Sadie seemed to hit it off already.”
“I’ve yet to come across anyone who can resist her.” He nodded toward the same staircase the kids ascended. “Your room is this way.”
After climbing two flights and traipsing down a short hallway, he nodded to a door on her left. “Brodie’s there.”
She peered through the half-open door and spotted the two new friends sitting cross-legged on a sofa at the end of the bed. Large AR devices engulfed their heads, and their little hands searched the air around them for something only they could see.
Smiling, she backed away, and Zeke pushed open a door on the opposite side of the hall.
A king-sized bed decorated in cream and gray with navy accents dominated the room. A flat-screen TV sat above a chest of drawers and a desk with a silver lamp stood before a set of double windows.
Zeke reached through an opening and flicked on a light. “Bathroom.” Banged a fist on a closed door. “Closet.” And pointed toward another open door while setting her suitcase on the bed. “Kitchen.”
“Wow.” Liv smoothed a hand over the arm of a cushy loveseat at the foot of the massive bed. “This room is as big as my first apartment.”