he’d stuffed back in his mouth. Nick rocked him. “Hush, baby.”
“Hand him here,” Charlie said, but the sound of the door opening made them both turn.
Lori came inside, a paper shopping bag in each hand. “I need to find somewhere cheaper for meat.”
Whether from hearing her voice or because Nick had stopped imitating a bouncy ride, Josh let out piercing cat-on-steroids cry. Lori set the grocery bags down on the floor and hurried over. “Here. Let me take him.”
“Gloves,” Charlie said as she reached out.
“Fuck.” She dug in her jacket pockets, pulled out a pair of fabric gloves and tugged them on. “Right.” She took the baby from Nick, with a quick glance at Charlie. “And don’t you say anything about my language.”
Nick handed Josh over, feeling a funny pang of loss as the baby’s small weight was lifted out of his arms, although the sudden end to the crying was a relief.
“Who me?” Charlie asked, as Lori rocked Joshie against her. “I think every boy should learn to swear from his mother.”
“Jerk.” But there wasn’t any real hostility in Lori’s voice and Charlie looked amused.
Nick had planned to ask how Lori was doing with her can’t-touch-the-baby thing, but the gloves were a pretty obvious sign. So was the way she tugged her collar up against her neck before shifting Josh higher on her shoulder. Crap.
He’d really hoped that Lori’s problems with the baby’s weird psychic field were wearing off, because then Brian’s might too. Brian said he was fine with being a distant, occasional uncle, but Nick had seen a wave of wistful sadness pass over Brian’s face when he talked about Joshie. Damn Marston to hell anyway. Hopefully the bastard was roasting over eternal flames.
He turned back to Charlie. “I’ll get out of your hair. Got some planning to do.”
“Wait.” Charlie got up slowly. “Let me get the groceries put away and I’ll come help you plot. God knows what you’d decide on without me.”
Nick laughed, at once warmed and a bit irritated. “I managed to do my job without you before.”
“And look how that turned out.” But Charlie’s tone held a touch of appeal in it. “C’mon. Share the fun.”
Nick sighed. He’d be glad of Charlie’s input, even if he wasn’t going to say so. He went and lifted both grocery bags to the counter so Charlie wouldn’t have to bend over. “Sure. Show me where the food goes.”
****
Brian rubbed his eyes and tried to focus on the row of word cards on the table in front of him. They were printed in a new font that was darker at the bottom than the top, and it did seem to help him keep the letters upright, but he still had to fight for every word. “Ti-ger.” He flipped the next card. “Is.” Easy word, next card. “Strip— ped— peed. Crap. Striped.” Obvious from context, which he’d almost forgotten in battling the letters. He looked up at Wendy, the teacher Dr. Murphy had located for him, his face hot.
“Good job.” She smiled and repeated, “‘The dog is spotted, but the tiger is striped.’ That’s a long sentence and you read it all.”
“Yeah. So slowly that I forgot the beginning by the time I came to the end.”
She clicked the mouse on her computer, and a recording of his voice came on, reciting that same sentence. That was him, actually reading clearly, aloud, doing well, until the garble at the end. Despite his frustration, he felt a flush of pride.
“Sounds good to me.” She stacked the cards in a pile. “Does the font help?”
“I think so. Yeah.” He hadn’t mixed up an M for a W yet today. “The letters stay put better.”
“So that’s a win. It’s called OpenDyslexic and you can put it on your computer to write with and convert documents into. If you want to bring a laptop next time, I can install it for you.”
“Mm. Thank you.” He rubbed his eyes.
“Headache?”
“No. I’m okay.”
“Some of the people I work with have major problems with headaches, even migraines, from reading. If you hurt, it’s a good time to stop and do something different. Don’t try to fight through the pain.”
“I’m okay. It’s just embarrassing.”
“Brian.” Wendy put a gentle hand on his arm. “Lots of people have dyslexia— more than you’d think. Yeah, yours is pretty significant, and you didn’t get help early on when you needed it, but none of that’s your fault.”
Brian nodded. Right. He knew that.
“Some of the things we tried today were useful, like