“It’s true! He doesn’t. But I do because Seamus says they’re good for your eyes, and I mean, we need our eyes, right?”
“We sure do,” Jace said, laughing as he glanced at the clock. Had forty-five minutes ever gone by so fast? “We need to get going.”
“Jackson!” Kyle screamed. “Let’s go!” Rolling his eyes, he said, “He’s like this every day. Seamus says he’s the weak link in the morning.”
“Go let Burpy out before he pees himself.”
“He’s like Jackson—not a morning person,” Kyle said. “We have to wake him up every day.”
He reminded Jace so much of Lisa with his morning cheerfulness. Jace had been exactly like Jackson as a kid. School mornings had been torturous for him.
“Make sure you feed him and check his water,” Jace said to Kyle.
“Already did. That’s my job every day ’cause Jackson can’t get himself together. Seamus says poor Burpy would starve if he was relying on Jackson.”
Jace absolutely loved knowing these little details about the boys.
Kyle looked up at him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“What are we supposed to call you?”
Jace knew he meant now that they were aware of his true identity. “What do you want to call me?”
Kyle shrugged.
“Mr. Jace was working pretty good before, but if you come up with something else, I’ll answer to whatever you want to call me, except for Poopy Head. I won’t answer to that.”
Kyle cracked up laughing and took off, screaming for his brother to hurry up before they got in trouble for being late. “Mr. Jace says we should call him Poopy Head!”
Jace watched him go, amazed at how the boys could touch him so deeply. “I did not say that!”
Somehow, he got them all out the door with ten minutes to spare. As he drove to the school that housed grades K-12, the boys gave him directions because he had no idea where the school was located.
“How can you not know where the school is?” Jackson asked, laughing at him as if he was the silliest person the child had ever met. He probably was, but that was fine. After what they’d learned about him yesterday, he was thankful to have them teasing him.
“Because I didn’t need to know until I had to bring you two monkeys,” Jace retorted.
“Will you be able to find your way back for pickup?” Kyle asked with a tinge of concern in his voice.
“I’ll be here. Don’t you worry.” They’d been relieved to hear the good news about Carolina’s surgery and were looking forward to talking to them later.
Jace pulled the truck into the circular driveway in front of the school, where a line of cars inched forward. “Is this where we go?”
“Yep,” Kyle said. “You stop up there where the teachers are, and we jump out.”
“Got it. You guys are pretty handy to have around.”
“You couldn’t have found the school without us,” Jackson said with a belly laugh.
“Are they making fun of me?” Jace asked Cindy while the boys giggled.
“I believe they are.”
“So much for the after-school surprise I was planning.”
“Wait! What surprise?”