said, trying to convey how heartened he was by the gesture. Sam had obviously recalled the ladybug gift Rhys had gotten him the first birthday after his parents’ passing. He had certainly kept up the geranium garden for them every year. And damn, now Rhys was so freaking grateful he remembered too.
See, it could’ve been so much worse.
“This is really awesome. Thank you.”
“The caterpillar larvae will feed off the sugar water and fruit we supply,” he pointed out as Rhys withdrew the netting that housed them, which looked like a small circular tent. “We can add some twigs or leaves too. They’ll hang upside down and build their chrysalises.”
“Check this out, Audrey.” Rhys leaned closer to the black and gold striped creatures as Audrey scrunched her nose but stayed quiet. She hated creepy crawlies but had matured enough to know when to keep her mouth shut. Well, mostly.
But somehow, she sensed this gift was important to Sam—and now it had become important to Rhys too.
“I thought we could keep the habitat in the sunroom and watch them transform into butterflies in a few weeks, then figure out where to let them loose.”
“Sam,” Emerson piped in, “Rhys will be moving back across the street this weeken—”
“I’d love to keep it here and come back over to check on them,” Rhys interjected. “Is that okay?”
“It’s perfect,” Audrey said as a small smile lifted the corners of Emerson’s mouth. And fuck, he realized just how much he wanted to keep that connection with the Rose family. His family.
“Will you still eat dinner with us?” Sam asked in an earnest tone.
“Sure, as long as I’m not working or have any other plans,” he replied, imagining what his life might look like from here on out. It felt like months since he’d had his own routine instead of weeks. But he couldn’t admit that he looked forward to it. Not yet. “Besides, I can’t subject you to Emerson’s cooking every night.”
“Hey!” Emerson scoffed. “I’ve gotten better, haven’t I?”
Rhys and the kids let his question dangle there for a long instant, as if they had developed the perfect comedic timing, before dissolving into laughter.
“You ass,” Emerson said under his breath.
Rhys opened a set of rubber bracelets from Audrey with the words hope and believe on them and a new shaving kit from Emerson that matched the one he’d used on Rhys that one night, and then they went on a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. They stopped to talk to Mrs. Fischer about her pretty sunflowers, which had grown taller seemingly overnight, and Sam asked her about the correct conditions to plant them, possibly for his own garden next year.
Afterward, he followed Sam into the sunroom to check on the caterpillars. He had picked up a fallen branch from one of the many large maple trees in the neighborhood to help their new little friends along.
“They’re fascinating.” Rhys stared at their antennae and little legs.
“I almost feel sorry for them,” Sam murmured as he adjusted the branch inside the tent. “But it’s probably worth it. I heard that they don’t have pain receptors, not like humans do.”
Rhys’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. “What do you mean?”
“They go through a complete transformation inside their chrysalises,” he explained. “They release enzymes that melt their tissue from the inside out, so they end up looking a bit like soup.”
“Holy crap, I didn’t realize.” He stared intently at them, cringing at the very idea of their bodies melting or liquefying or whatever.
“But imagine what they ultimately become and how much they went through to get there,” he pointed out. “To anyone else, it would look like complete destruction, but really, it’s all about transformation and becoming something else entirely. And the wings they create from almost nothing are incredible.”
“Plus, they can fly,” Rhys added, thinking about the colorful monarchs those little guys would soon become.
“Yup,” Sam agreed. “That’s why I thought it was a good gift for you…because you’re sort of going through your own kinda metamorphosis.”
Rhys felt the stinging of tears behind his eyes and swallowed them down.
This kid. So young yet wise beyond his years.
“You mean because of my accident?” Rhys asked around a thick throat.
“Yeah. Well, and your memory.” He motioned with his hand. “You were feeling sorta broken, and now you’ll like, transform into something cool. Not that you weren’t cool before. I just mean—”
“Damn it.” Rhys reached for Sam and pulled him into a tight hug. “Thanks, buddy. I love your gift. And the