“Why don’t Sully and I make a picture, too, and you guys can tell us what you think, huh?” I picked up a couple of the magazines in the middle of the table and offered one to Sully. He took it gratefully and began to cut out pictures with the tiny kiddie scissors I’d been using earlier, his hands far too big to wield them efficiently.
An hour later, Rose let herself into the house and came into the kitchen to find Connor and Amie laughing raucously at the picture we’d just completed. We’d turned Lady Gaga into a nun, and some famous-right-now model had been given a makeover, transformed into a vampire, complete with drawn-in fangs and evil laser eyes, courtesy of Sully. In the middle of the page, a huge picture of some English boy band member was riding a stallion that Amie insisted was a unicorn, and the rest of the band members’ heads had been cut from their own bodies and glued onto the bodies of cats.
Rose stood in the doorway and took in the scene, her arms filled with groceries, amusement written all over her face. “Looks like I’ve been missing all the fun, doesn’t it?” she said.
“Come and draw with us,” Amie squealed. “I made a Triceratops! Look!”
Rose dutifully looked at the mess of images Amie had stuck down on the paper and nodded, telling her what an excellent job she’d done. She then turned to me and said, “O? Think you could help me put these groceries away for a second?”
“Sure.”
Sully was so engrossed in his conversation with Connor, debating with him whether or not a skinny bikini clad woman from one of the fashion magazines we’d cut up was actually an alien, poorly disguised as a human, that he didn’t even look up when I left the table.
Rose dragged me into the pantry and pulled the door half closed behind us. “What the hell is going on?” she hissed. She was smiling, delighted, but at the same time she seemed concerned, too.
“He asked,” I said. “I didn’t drug him and bundle him into the trunk in order to get him over here, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“I wasn’t thinking that at all. But now I am!”
“There’s nothing to be worried about, Rose, I promise. I explained about Sully to them, and both of them agreed that they wanted to see him. The whole morning’s gone really well, actually.”
“Hmm. I don’t know. I never thought he’d change his mind. He’s not the kind of guy to go back on something once he’s sworn to it once or twice.”
“I know. I know.”
“Do you think he’s gonna do what Ronan asked and take them, then?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t know.”
“All right, O. But god, just be careful, okay? Sully’s a good man, and he’s definitely mellowed since he met you, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he freaks out on you after this. Just watch for it, honey. I’d really hate to see you or the children get hurt.”
******
Sully stayed for the rest of the afternoon, and it was worrying. Worrying, because I spent the entire time waiting for the other shoe to drop. Amie was giggly and silly with Sully, playing with him and screaming at the top of her lungs when he chased her around the living room. Connor was quiet for a long time, but soon warmed up and joined in the fun. It was surreal. I kept getting hit with the strongest sense of déjà vu, back to the night before Ronan killed himself, when he was charging around the same living room, wearing that pirate patch.
Four o’clock rolled around, and Sully said he needed to leave. Amie looked like she was going to cry. “But I didn’t even get to ask for another skeleton,” she whispered.
“Well, maybe, if Sully comes back again another day, you can ask him then.” She’d spoken loud enough that he heard what she said anyway, and he winked at me. He seemed light. Carefree. Less like the world was weighing down on him from all angles. He’d changed so much over the past couple of weeks that it was almost hard to believe.
“Why don’t you go and relax for a little while, too?” Rose said, as I went to see Sully out. “I’ve got things handled here. If this is what happens to Sully Fletcher when he falls in love, then you two should definitely spend as much time together as possible.”
I nearly died. No one mentioned being in love. I hadn’t. Sully sure as hell hadn’t. Why would she say something like that? It felt like the ground was yawning open and about to swallow me up whole. I glowered at Rose over Sully’s shoulder, subtly trying to let her know how mad I was, when I saw Sully’s reflection in the mirror on the wall right next to us, along with my own, and realized that he’d seen every single frown and glower I’d sent her way. Perfect.
“I always knew a woman could speak volumes with one look. That was a whole new level, though, Lang.”