cheeks, so much like his mother, while he uses her arm to shield half his face. “Am I the strongest man you’ve ever seen?” I ask him, keeping my voice low.
Benny’s nod is slow as he comes out from his mother’s shadow.
“Well, that makes me the strongest man in your world, and that’s all that matters, right?”
Benny smiles, and it’s so much of everything all at once, I struggle to see straight. And then slowly, shyly, he reaches up, one finger pointed in the air, coming closer and closer, and I watch, breathless. He presses the tip of his finger to my bicep, poking at the muscle, and then he laughs. Full on, all out, laughs, his entire body shaking with him. I laugh, too, while Mia giggles. “You’re such a goofball, Benny!”
Mr. Kovács calls us in for lunch, and so we get up, my gift left discarded on the porch. We sit at the kitchen table—Mia’s dad on one end and Benny on the other. I sit beside Mia, opposite Tammy, and I let Mr. Kovács interrogate me. I knew it was coming, so I’m prepared when the questions begin. He asks about where I’m from, how I know Mia, and my career plans. When I tell him I’m currently at the police academy, he does that thing with his lips people do when they’re impressed—something that surprises me. “Law enforcement is a tough job, man. I sure as hell couldn’t do it.” He shakes his head, spearing a piece of lettuce with his fork. “You have my respect.” And then he does something weird. He offers me his fist for a bump. Mia mutters something resembling “Oh my god” under her breath when I tap his fist.
“Joseph likes to think he’s still in college,” Tammy offers with an eye-roll.
Mr. Kovács narrows his eyes at her. “We haven’t even hit forty yet, Tams.”
“Eat, Benny,” Mia says, and I trail my eyes to the little boy sitting at the end of the table, a fork in his hand. He doesn’t move. He’s looking in Mr. Kovács direction, but his stare is distant, something I’m more than familiar with.
“Benny? Where are you, Benny?” Tammy sings.
He doesn’t seem to hear her.
“We call this him rebooting.” Mr. Kovács chuckles. “He’ll snap out of it soon.”
Benny hasn’t blinked once.
“He does it all the time,” Mia tells me, voice so close I feel it spread through my entire body. “It’s like he—”
Benny blinks and then looks around with those big eyes of his. Everyone else at the table mock-cheers.
“There he is!” Mr. Kovács almost shouts, and I can’t help but smile as I look down at my plate. I’d spent many, many meal times doing the exact same thing. My parents called it checking out. I like rebooting better.
We continue to eat while Tammy tells us about her work in the garden and then, out of nowhere: “Leo?”
My eyes snap up to Benny’s, my heart pounding in my chest. “Yeah?”
“Did you know that semidetary rocks are the most common rocks on earth?”
Sedimentary, he means, and yes. Yes, I did. “I did not know that.”
He doesn’t react to my answer. He simply continues to pick at the salad on his plate.
I go back to my meal.
“Leo?”
My smile is ridiculous. “Yeah, bud?”
His head tilts, assessing me. “Do you have a favorite rock?”
Nodding, I wipe my mouth with the paper napkin before saying, “Topaz.”
“Why?”
I clear my throat. “Because it’s yellow.”
“Is yellow your favorite color?”
I nod. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Blue,” he replies.
“So… would your favorite rock be…” I squint, trying to recall. “Turquoise?”
His perfect little face lights up. “How did you know?”
“I guessed,” I say, smiling over at him.
Mia’s hand lands on my knee, and I glance at her quickly, noting the glassiness in her eyes.
“My bedrooms are all painted blue,” Benny tells me, and I focus all of me on all of him.
“They are? How many bedrooms do you have?”
“Four,” he says, holding up three fingers. “I have one in here and one in the barn and one at Papa’s condo and one at the apartment.” Wow. And the barn... I’d seen Mia coming out of there before, but I had no idea it was a proper livable space.
“Must be cool having all those rooms,” I say.
Benny shrugs, shoves a spoonful of food in his mouth. “Leo?” he says, and corn flies across the table.
Mia sighs. “No talking with your mouth full.”
Benny chews and chews and makes a show of swallowing. “Leo?” he says again, and the chuckle