“No one is irritated with us,” Coop argued. “Mom wants Frankie to come over for dinner though.”
“Ditto,” Jake and Ian said in unison.
“Okay, that is an issue for another day.” I needed to think about this some.
“Done,” Archie said. “But just so you know, Jeremy would love to have you over, and so would Grandpa the next time he’s in town.”
I liked his grandfather. Really, I liked all of their parents, except for mine and Archie’s directly, so this wasn’t really a problem.
“Did you want to add any more?” Ian asked, shifting to look at me. “You did say you wanted to make rules.”
“I do have one… It’s kind of one I asked for before, but I think we need to make it a real rule.”
I had all of their attention.
“Name it,” Ian said.
“Rule number ten…” I labeled it because we had a list, and maybe we needed to print it out. I could do that later, too. “We talk to each other when something is wrong or we have questions or we’re worried.” I held Ian’s gaze the whole time. “Even if it’s hard to talk about. We agree that we don’t make assumptions or decisions for each other without consulting the other person.” That went for them as well as for me.
He didn’t hesitate. “Done.”
The other three followed suit.
We had to shift gears at that point, because homework wasn’t going to do itself. They took turns helping me with mine if I needed anything handwritten out, otherwise, they set me up with my laptop and I henpecked away left-handed.
The rules had been easy. Splitting up tasks for homework, then for getting food together, and finally for packing up Maddy’s room—I found one box of items I planned to keep and it wasn’t much, but they were some old things of mine—the guys kept it easy and light.
They’d moved all the furniture to one side so it was all ready to be hauled out, and Coop had even run the vacuum. The room smelled better, though it still reminded me of Maddy, but it would probably be better after it aired out. Coop and Ian had cleaned out the bathroom together so it sparkled.
“Rule number eleven,” Archie suggested as he set the last box in place. “We make big decisions by vote. Democratically.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But you’re not going to get the football-sized bed by going around me with the guys to vote.”
He grinned slyly. “Don’t think they’ll side with you?”
“No, I think you guys have a fantasy about me in a huge bed.” And considering I had a couple of my own, I could say it with some authority.
“Oh, I think you’re underestimating us,” Coop said, arms folded where he leaned against the wall. His eyes were scorching as he raked them over me, and I had no doubt what he was thinking about because that memory wasn’t far from my mind either. “We have a lot of fantasies.”
“All about you,” Jake agreed. “Not all necessarily needing a bed.”
Yep. That did it. The blush I’d managed to fend off for the conversation won, and my face caught on fire. “I hate you all,” I muttered as they laughed at me.
How Does That Make You Feel?
“I feel like I should know the answer to that,” I told Erin. It was only my second appointment, but it was easier this week. Or maybe I was just distracted. A lifetime had happened since our last appointment.
“Well, if you feel like you should know the answer, what do you think it is?” Her quiet question prodded me, and I lifted my shoulders with a wince. The bruises and stiffness only seemed to worsen each day. The fact that Jake had found some liniment to rub into my hip and shoulder the night before had helped, but not enough.
Now they wanted me to ice it as well as stink to high heaven with the various bio-freezes. Could be worse, I supposed. It was that, or they wanted me to take the pain meds.
I was over those, even if the pain grew teeth clenching. Jake and Coop would argue with me. Archie had just stopped and put the pills in my hand and stared until I took them. I had a feeling after Coop and Jake witnessing that earlier this morning, I was going to get more of the same.
“A part of me is happy that they’re gone from school. That their expulsions mean they are excised from my