I sat on the edge of the bed and quietly watched him take a section of hangers holding his dress shirts and hang them in one of the wardrobe boxes. His grizzled face—the one I’d loved before I knew whatlovemeant—looked sad.
“Family takes care of each other. Someone very wise used to tell me that when I’d worry about the same thing.”
He made a gruff, impatient noise. “That was different.”
“How? I was no picnic in high school. And then I brought home a baby about a month after I got my diploma. You’re telling me you’re going to be more high maintenance than that?”
Pops’s shoulders slumped. “I hate getting old, Remington.”
My heart squeezed when he called me that. It wasn’t my given name, but every once in a while, he said it was appropriate. His little pistol. The one that kept him young, he said.
I stood and slid my arm around his waist, laying my head on his stooped shoulder. “I know.”
He kissed the top of my head, patting my hand where it lay on his stomach. “I’ll be better about taking my meds, I promise. And maybe, hell ... maybe I’ll eat healthier too. Cut back on my red meat and french fries.”
“Why do you think I’m giving up my guest room? It’s so I can keep my eye on you all the time, old man.” I dropped a quick kiss on his cheek and went back to packing more boxes. “I’ll keep these out of your way for the next couple days. I can take a few of them tonight, but I need to find someone with a truck who’ll help with your bed, the dresser, and the bench.”
Gavin’s head popped around the corner. “What about Archer? He’s got a truck, and he’s already helped Mom once.”
Pops gave me a stern look. “Has he, now?”
“Oh yeah, he found me a babysitter and came over to the house and everything. He’s so tall!”
Since when did my kid get so friggin’ chatty?
“You told me it was just a few hours a week picking up dog shit.”
Gavin rolled his eyes. “Language, Pops.”
Pops waved him away. “I’m too old to stop swearing. You’ll get over it, kiddo.”
I slicked my tongue over my teeth and met Pops’s unrelenting stare. “Gavin, can you go get my water out of the car? I think I left it in the front seat.”
“Sure.” He took off.
Pops pointed. “That water?”
“Yup.” I picked it up off the floor, where it had been sitting out of Gavin’s line of sight. “It’s not how it sounds, okay? I needed a babysitter and his sister was available. She was amazing, actually. Gavin loved her.”
Pops’s mouth twisted into a frown. “I don’t like it. He’s a bad influence to have around Gavin. That boy might have been upset at first, but you get him around a man like that and he’ll idolize him even more than he already did.”
I rubbed my forehead. “I know.”
Boy, did I know. I’d added that to an entirely new list, the one I’d started repeating as a mantra when lying awake the last two nights, unable to think about anything else but him as sleep remained frustratingly out of reach.
“A man who drinks and drives is the kind of man—”
“Pops, please.”
“No, Remi, you have to listen. I know he’s handsome and successful, but—”
I set my hands on his shoulders. “Pops.”
At my firm tone, his head reared back. “What?”
Could I do it?
It would break my promise to Archer. But there were times when keeping a secret didn’t benefit anyone, falling squarely in shades of gray on the scale of right or wrong.