“That’s maybe true,” I admitted, eyeing him skeptically.
He continued going through the bags to put things away, while I went over to the freezer and pulled an orange Popsicle out. He was actually dead-on about the lack of food and heat stroke.
“Aren’t you afraid Mom’ll catch you?”
“She’s at work,” Milo shrugged. “And so is Jack. So it’s very quiet at the house and I needed to get out.”
“Jack’s at work?” I hopped on the counter to watch Milo put the groceries away. “I thought Ezra just came back.”
“He did, and he’s still at home.” With ease, he reached over me to put away cereal on the very top shelf, something that used to require the aid of a chair for him to reach. “Jack went on his own. He’s really getting the hang of the business.”
“What do you mean? Jack’s in charge of stuff all by himself?” I slurped at my Popsicle, trying to keep orange drips of juice from spilling on my legs, but it wasn’t working.
“Yeah. Why is that so shocking?” Milo laughed at my apparent surprise.
“It’s not.” Wiping at the spot of orange on my thigh, I shrugged. “I just didn’t realize he was doing that good or whatever. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t even know what he does really.”
“Neither do I. They’re keeping me out of the loop for now, but Jack says that once I get more settled in, I’ll definitely be able to do it. He says it’s actually kind of fun when you get into it, but a lot of the work is already done anyway.
“Ezra has tons and tons of patents on things, and he has to do a lot of legal shuffling around so people don’t catch onto the fact that he’s the same guy that’s been collecting money for the past hundred years or so.” Milo said it all matter-of-factly like I would completely follow what that meant.
“So, what? Pretty soon you’re gonna be a millionaire?” I bit off the last chunk of Popsicle, even though my gums didn’t necessarily appreciate the cold.
“Alice, I hate to break it to you, but I already kind of am.” Milo looked rather sheepish as he put away the last of the groceries in the fridge, and then turned to face me.
“Well, they’re super rich or whatever, but you just live with them,” I said.
“Yeah, but…” He shifted, fearing the worst from my reaction. “I’m like part of the family now. So, Ezra set up credit cards and an expense account for me the other day, and Ezra’s working on documents to legally change my name to Milo Townsend.
“Once that’s through, I’m going to get a driver’s license, but it’s going to say that I’m 18, since I can pass for it now and it’ll be easier to get things done that way.”
“Nah ah,” I gaped at him. “You have an expense account?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s just easier that way. So I can buy my own things.” He shrugged, then added, “And groceries for you too. I’m spreading it around.”
“But…” My face crinkled. “But that’s their money. Don’t you feel bad about taking it?”
“Not really,” Milo admitted. “I didn’t really feel bad about taking Mom’s money. As soon as I’m able to, and as soon as they’ll let me, I’m gonna start working. I’ll pull my own share. I’m kind of a kid right now, and they just adopted me.”
“They are adopting you, aren’t they?” It hit me in a weird way that Milo wasn’t really my brother anymore. He was, and he always would be, but at the same time, he wasn’t. “Milo Townsend?”
“Yeah, it sounds weird, right?” He wrinkled his nose, and I felt a little better knowing it was strange for him too.
“Whose last name is that anyway?” I chewed on the wooden Popsicle stick and tried to seem casual about Milo’s news.
“I think its Ezra’s. Jack’s is really Hobbs, and Mae’s is Everly, but I don’t really know what Peter’s was.” He leaned back against the refrigerator, watching me swing my feet and chew on the stick. “They don’t really talk much about Peter.”
“That’s not surprising.” The wood splintered so I tossed the stick in the garbage can and looked over at him. “What do they say about him?”
“Mae told me about you guys being bonded and about how Peter nearly killed you before.” A shudder ran over him at that. “Why didn’t you tell me about that?”
“How could I?” I asked. “You weren’t supposed to know they were vampires. It’d be pretty weird to just say, oh yeah, Peter tried to drink all my blood.”