And then a body thumps into the gate and there’s a disbelieving curse.
They look up.
Avery hangs over the front gate, his shirt soaked with sweat and chest heaving. His eyes are wild as explosions and wars and he grips the fence like it’s the only thing keeping his exhausted legs upright.
‘Sammy.’ He gasps for breath. ‘I ran all the – way – over here – to rescue – you—’ He sucks in a ragged lungful of air. ‘And you’re just kissing – in the sunset? You little jerk.’
Moxie looks like she’s holding back a laugh. ‘Finally I get to meet Avery properly.’
Avery grabs his knees and wheezes. ‘I’m going – to – puke – on you – Sammy. In just – a second.’
Several curious faces crowd the open De Lainey door. Clearly they were giving Sam and Moxie a moment but – the moment is officially over.
Jeremy squeezes past the others on to the veranda. ‘Hey, the return of the second Sammy.’ He nudges Jack. ‘He looks like a wild sort of elf. No! A lost boy from Peter Pan.’
Jack snorts. ‘I think he swam here.’
‘I ran,’ Avery growls. His eyes shift from one face to the other, not sure who’s joking or who’s the enemy.
Mr De Lainey appears, wearing worn jeans now with a baby on his hip. ‘Reece De Lainey,’ he says calmly like every day battered boys tumble into his yard.
Avery seems to have regained his breath. He attempts the gate, fumbles the latch, kicks it, and then just climbs over. He walks cautiously up the path, eyes like snake slits and fingers flicking his thighs. Typical Avery around new people: scared and wanting to curl in Sam’s arms – but teeth bared to bite if it’s not safe.
‘Sammy,’ he says, ‘we need to—’
‘We’re about to have dinner,’ Mr De Lainey says. ‘And then Sam’s deciding if he’s going back or not. You can stay too.’ He folds his arms and leans against the veranda rail. ‘Do you want a job?’
‘A w-w-what?’ Avery looks like a frightened rabbit.
Sam snaps his gaze to Mr De Lainey. What is he doing?
‘I work in construction,’ Mr De Lainey says. ‘I have my own business. I’ll hire you as a paid apprentice and you can sleep here.’
Sam understands.
The De Lainey father gets it. He’s seen Sam in tears with clenched, bloody fists and knows that the surest way to save him is to save his brother.
Avery just stares. He’s abandoned trying to still his hands and they spin in circles by his sides. But he sets his jaw and doesn’t shrink away. Like he’s trying to make up for fifteen years of leaving Sam to look after himself.
‘What about Sam?’ Avery says. ‘They’ll take him away – they’ll … no-no-no—’
‘Yes.’ Mr De Lainey doesn’t lie or manipulate. ‘I’ll go downtown first thing and get a lawyer and start things moving to get Sam’s custody if I can.’ He rubs his jaw. ‘That’s if Sam chooses to go back to court. Either way, the job and bed are yours.’
Avery doesn’t know how to respond. He looks at Sam and then back to the De Lainey father.
Finally he swears. ‘You really mean it.’ He swears again, confusion in every syllable.
Jack gives a low whistle. ‘I cannot wait to see Dad handle this.’
Mr De Lainey just smiles and pushes away from the veranda. ‘Dinner’s in five minutes. Avery, come inside and get some water. Do you like pasta?’
The twins shove their way back inside, both talking at once about how about their dad can fire them if he’s hiring Avery and then they can spend every afternoon swimming.
Judging it safer with everyone gone, Avery crosses the remaining ground between him and Sam. He turns fierce eyes on Moxie – like she’s the one taking Sam away.
Well, she did. Just a little.
She matches his look, blade for blade. ‘You better stay for dinner or my dad will transform into a mother hen and shed feathers everywhere.’
‘What?’ says Avery.
‘It’s a joke,’ Sam says. ‘You’ll like their food. They don’t always mix everything.’
Avery scuffs Sam’s shoe and glares, his hardest punishment since they were kids. ‘You shut up. You scared me to death, you know that? They’ve got cops out looking for you and that asshat Evans nearly strangled me because he thought I abducted you.’
Sam takes a deep breath, the hollows in his chest filling in.
All his people are here.
Everything he loves.
‘Would you?’ he says. ‘Would you stay? If I … if I had to go to prison for a while?’
The tightness around Avery’s mouth loosens and his eyes bleed a sadness so deep. ‘We could steal a car and drive away—’ His words snap in half suddenly, like he gets it. Sam is tired. Sam can’t do this any more. ‘I’m going to get a drink of water.’ He jogs up the remaining steps and walks into the butter-yellow house.
It folds over him.
Sam’s shoulders sag a little, like he’s held himself on high alert too long. He leans his head on Moxie’s shoulder and they watch the sun steal the last golden rays and pin a thousand stars in the sky. Dishes and voices clash behind them.
Mr De Lainey comes back to the veranda and whispers in Moxie’s ear. Then he sets a phone next to Sam. ‘If you decide to call your social worker, the number’s there and ready.’ He brushes a palm over the top of Sam’s head before he goes.
The phone might as well be another knife. If he calls, he’s going back to court, back to face everything he’s run from. There will be angry eyes, sentencing, juvie … and he’ll have to bear it. Alone.
Except maybe he won’t be alone for ever. Maybe, when it’s over, he’ll get out and a family will be waiting for him, a family who’ll keep his brother safe until Sam can come—
home.
The veranda’s quiet again, just him and Moxie and the stars. She kisses him, on the corner of his mouth, and then slips back into the house.
He can’t be an invisible boy when she can see him. He can’t steal houses or the girl inside them, but he can build a bridge of moons and caramel cakes to get back to her.
So Sammy Lou
picks
up
the phone.
This story is intensely special to me and I am caught in an eternally delirious smile as I hold the finished copy. It is constructed entirely out of wishes and hope and wouldn’t be here without these incredible people: