Julian lit up when he saw me. “Buh buh.” Opening his arms, he hurried forward.
My heart melted at his greeting, so I swept him up and hugged him to me, rubbing my nose against his hair. “Hey, there, handsome man. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“Buh buh,” he repeated, pressing his chubby palms against my cheeks. “Buh buh.”
“Okay, okay,” I caved. “You want bubbles, I got it. You know, you’re lucky I remembered to bring some this time.”
I fished a piece of gum from my pocket, and Julian babbled eagerly as I unwrapped it and stuck it in my mouth.
“Buh buh. Buh buh.”
“Give me a second to chew, kid.” I chomped as fast as I could to soften the gum. “I’ll get you a bubble.”
Pick leaned his back against the wall and stuck his hands in his pockets as he watched us, smiling and shaking his head. “You’re just as bad as everyone else with spoiling my kids.”
“Whatever. There’s no such thing as spoiling a baby this cute. Isn’t that right, handsome?” Layering the gum over my tongue, I blew a bubble, and Julian squealed with glee as he slapped his hand over my mouth, popping it.
We went through the whole chewing, blowing, popping thing again a few times before Pick pushed away from the wall and yawned, rubbing his chest through his shirt. “I’m going to make some coffee. Want some?”
“Uh...okay.” Carrying Julian, I followed Pick into his kitchen, and it finally hit me how quiet the place was. Yeesh, I must’ve been a bit too preoccupied with Knox to even think of anything else. “Is Eva not home?”
“She took Skylar with her to the store to get some clothes for Parker.”
I paused, still unsettled to hear that name so much for the first time in years.
“The girls have always been early risers; they like to get all the shopping done before we guys even roll out of bed,” he was saying as he pulled down coffee filters and a can of ground beans.
“Clothes?” was all I could think to utter.
He glanced back and lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah. Clothes. He had nothing when I found him at the hospital on Wednesday. He’d only just then gotten free maybe an hour before. He wasn’t even aware his old house had burned down or, you know, anything about his family.”
I gasped and sank into the nearest chair I found. Julian patted my cheeks again, demanding another bubble, so I blew one without thinking. “He really didn’t know? About anyone? No one notified him at all when practically his entire family died?”
“Nope. And it really sucked being the bearer of bad news.”
“Oh God. That’s where he met Zoey, wasn’t it? At the convenience store where his house used to be?”
Pick nodded. “Yep.”
I hugged Julian close to me. “Poor Knox.”
“That’s basically how I felt. The guy had just done a good deed for our Zoey, all the while he was homeless, broke, and had no family left to go to.” He shrugged. “I brought him back here, and we stuffed him in one of my shirts to work at the bar last night, but it didn’t fit him well, so Tink’s taken it upon herself to make sure he’s properly clothed.”
A little swirl of jealousy curled through me, hating that Eva was taking care of him, and I wasn’t. Then I winced and bit my lip, feeling more terrible than I had last night about the tight T-shirt comment I’d made. Crap, forget worst girlfriend, I had to be the worst person ever. But then something else Pick had said flittered to the surface.
“Wait. You brought him here? As in here?” I pointed to the floor and sat up straighter, glancing around. “He’s staying here, with you guys?”
“Except he didn’t come home last night after work,” he answered me before I could ask. “So... I don’t know where he is at the moment.”
When a soft tap came to the apartment door, I gasped. I don’t know how I knew, but I knew. It was Knox. I lurched to my feet and glanced around wildly, thinking there had to be a way to prepare. I probably looked like shit with my hair uncombed and the first clothes I’d snagged in the dark to change into. I hadn’t even had my first cup of coffee for the day.
But everything was happening regardless.
Pick was leaving the kitchen to answer the knock, so I rushed after him. His body blocked my view as he opened the door, but I could tell from the set of his shoulders and how he let out a relieved breath who he was greeting.
“So you decided to come back.”
“I guess I really don’t have anywhere else to go.” The low, gravelly voice I’d heard the night before filled the apartment and made me shiver.