other was that nobody in this family was going to let Grace slip through the cracks, even if Josh was sick.
He wasn’t comforted, but he did know Grace was in good hands.
Growing Up
“DO YOU want me to come?” Hunter asked.
“Yes,” Grace said, because that wasn’t the real question. “But you need to be here because all the leaders are gone and they need you. Felix and Julia will be here soon, but they need you here now.”
Hunter looked unhappy, but Grace rolled his eyes. “You’re the responsible one,” he said. “Everybody knows you’re the responsible one. Don’t be stupid.”
“But, baby—”
Augh! An endearment! Grace stared at him, nakedly begging. “You need to be here when I get back, okay? The team, they need to be here when I get back so I can tell everyone that Josh is okay, and it was all stupid, and he should eat more.”
He wasn’t sure how he could make this more known. Grace and Josh were Grace and Josh, but Hunter needed to be there for the others. Why was that so hard to understand?
“Okay,” Hunter murmured, kissing his temple. “I’m your guy.”
Grace smiled at him, all sunshiny bright, and then let him shut the door as Danny drove away into the night.
“He could have come,” Danny said mildly.
“No,” Grace said.
“Why not?”
“Because I’m going to be a basket case either way, and I don’t want him to see.”
Danny let out a long sigh. “Oh, Grace. Don’t you understand? You get to have more than one person in your life who you can let see you like that. Do you think Josh is the only one?”
“Yes,” Grace said, not mincing words. “Who did you get? You were on your own for ten years. Who did you have?”
“Not a soul!” Danny burst out in exasperation. “But that’s because I fucked up. I had to go out on my own and do my growing up somewhere else. You’re better than that, aren’t you? My poison was whiskey, and I had to walk away from everything—and everyone—to walk away from it. Your poison was drugs and risk, and you walked away from it and stayed with the people who loved you. So don’t tell me you don’t get to have an entire family to hold you together. Because you have us.”
Grace glared at him. “Felix was stupid,” he said, referring to the lost ten years between the two of them. “You were drinking because you had to hide. Because you couldn’t be in love and have everyone know it. I knew that even before Josh’s mother came clean after you left.”
Danny grunted. “That is quite impossible,” he said.
Grace let loose a humorless laugh. “I stole a picture of all of you when I was seven. Josh told me you were his Uncle Danny, and I looked at you and Felix and thought, ‘I want an Uncle Danny,’ and it all seemed perfectly logical.”
Danny gave a snort. “You are the Uncle Danny in your relationship. You realize that, right?”
Grace thought about it for a minute. “Yeah,” he said, “but you can concentrate for longer.”
“But I don’t have an IQ of 175 either,” Danny said dryly. “You tend to concentrate on all the things at once.”
Grace made a hurt sound. “Why?” he asked, tired. “Why are parents such a lottery? Josh got three spins—how wild is that? And he came up cherries every time. I got two spins and bankrupted the house.”
“Have you ever gambled in your life?” Danny asked, maneuvering the car toward Highland Park. It seemed like all the hospitals in Chicago clustered around the lake. Grace wondered if doctors thought being near the water would make people feel better. He thought it was a risky move, particularly in the winter. Lake Michigan could be a mean bitch, and there was nothing cheerful about horizontal snow.
“No,” Grace muttered. “Why?”
“It’s a good thing. You got Josh and Felix and Julia in your third pull, and me in your fourth, and apparently that very good-looking young bouncer on your fifth. You have won the slots, the lottery, and poker, young man. Now it’s time to spend some of your winnings.”
Danny found a parking spot in a structure that looked like it had been battered to death by Lake Michigan.
“I’d give a lot of that shit back if we never had to see Josh here again,” he mumbled.
“Yes, well, can’t argue that,” Danny said. “Let’s go see what’s doing.”
FELIX AND Julia looked red-eyed and exhausted, and Danny greeted them both with a