“What the fu—”
“Let’s go,” Kade cut off his exclamation. He didn’t give a shit if the boys cussed but he had no idea what Ali’s rule for it was.
You don’t know what Ali’s rule is for anything,his inner voice pointed out.
It was true. He didn’t. But he’d learn.
Beside him, he could see KJ was fuming and entertaining the idea of talking back to Kade, but the kid decided against it and opted instead to throw his remote control on the floor as he stood up and stomped away. Kade’s first instinct was to tell him that if that was how he was going to treat the present he wasn’t going to be allowed to play it, but he decided to let it slide.
There was going to be plenty of time to figure out his role in the boys’ lives. He didn’t need to suddenly become an authority figure.
Like Ali had, he thought.
Kade knew she’d always helped out with the boys when Patrick needed an extra hand, but his friend had talked to him about wanting Ali to have a “normal” life, something that Patrick had forfeited thanks to an alcoholic mother. He’d been responsible for Ali long before he actually became her legal guardian. Even in second grade, Patrick would rush home to check on Ali after school. He would even miss school sometimes when his mom was too wasted to take care of her.
The basement door slammed and he scrubbed his hand over his face. He sighed as he walked over to the trophies that were collecting dust on the bookshelf that ran along the far wall. Some were Patrick’s and Ali’s and some were the boys’. He traced his finger over Patrick’s name on a most valuable player trophy he’d earned their senior year.
Kade couldn’t believe that he was really gone. He’d thought that he’d accepted it but being here, in his house, was different. He kept expecting him to walk in at any moment.
But that wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t coming back. Part of what Kade had learned over the past year was to try and accept the things that he couldn’t change, have the courage to change the things he could, and the wisdom to know the difference. He knew that he couldn’t change Patrick’s death. He would give anything, including his own life, to have Patrick back. It should’ve been him, not his best friend.
A loud crash from upstairs snapped him out of his thoughts. He took the steps two at a time and found Ali on the floor in the kitchen, surrounded by Legos.
“No, no, no, no, no,” she whispered again and again as her wild eyes scanned the floor.
“What is…what happened?” Kade bent to help her clean up.
“Don’t.” Her arm flew out, blocking him from picking anything up. “Don’t touch anything.”
Kade lifted his hands as if he were being robbed. “Okay.”
Sheer panic was written all over her pretty face as her breathing grew faster and shallower. “I have to…I need to…I can’t…”
“Slow down. Breathe. It’s okay.”
“Don’t.” Her head spun Exorcist-style toward him and there was venom in her caramel colored eyes as she let out a long breath before speaking in a dead calm. “Do not patronize me.”
“Sorry.” The corners of his lips twitched despite his best efforts not to smile. He couldn’t help it. Ali getting all fired up had always been damn cute. And he was a little relieved that her irritation at him had blocked her impending hyperventilation. “What can I do to help?”
“Nothing.” Her head shook as she looked back at the colorful plastic scattered all over the black and white checkerboard tile of the kitchen floor. “Just leave me alone.”
“Not gonna happen.” He’d done that and he wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself for it. “Want to tell me why you karate chopped my arm to keep me from cleaning up this mess?”
“It’s not a mess and I need to put it back together. I don’t want you to make it worse.”
“What is it?” He’d wanted to ask what it was supposed to be but he decided against it.
“It’s Ricky’s science project.”
“It is?” Kade had never heard of a science project that used Lego’s but he’d also never attended a science fair, so he wasn’t exactly an expert.
“Yes. He did it on engineering a skyscraper and tested his theories for the best designs by using Legos to create the buildings. See?” She pointed to a trifold poster board that was on its side halfway across the room.
He tilted his head and saw pictures of three separate towers on the board.
“Oh shit,” he breathed as the scope of what was going on sank in. There had to be thousands of pieces on the ground.
“Yeah. Oh shit is right. I was finishing the laundry and I almost knocked it over so I thought I would bring it to the dining room table but I tripped over KJ’s stupid shoes that I keep telling him to pick up.” Tears were filling her eyes as her voice tinged with panic. “It’s due tomorrow and he worked so hard on it. It took him weeks to design and build. He has straight A’s and Mr. Truman is not going to care that I broke it.”