car. Helen shut the door but kept a hold of it, looking at him uncertainly
through the open window. ?What is it?? he asked.
?I feel horrible, Lucas! It?s autumn, and you and your cousins are
sleeping outside at night. That just isn?t acceptable.?
?We don?t have much of a choice. We can?t leave you by yourself
until you can fight.?
?I won?t allow it anymore,? she said, tucking her hair behind her
ear and crossing her arms stubbornly. ?You?re just going to have to
stay in my room.?
?Because that?s relaxing,? he replied with gentle sarcasm. ?I
barely shut my eyes last night. Trust me, I?ll get more sleep on your
roof.?
?No,? she said, sticking to her guns, even though she was getting
warm and jittery at the thought of him in her room again. ?You
either come inside or you don?t spend the night here at all.?
Lucas looked up at her. ?We?ll figure something out when I get
back. Okay??
Helen reluctantly agreed and went into the house to see her dad.
Through a wide yawn, he tried to ask her how her weekend had
gone but after working double shifts for two days straight he could
barely keep his eyes open. Helen sent him to bed, promising to fix
breakfast in the morning. Jerry was snoring away before she?d
even brushed her teeth. She finished up in the bathroom and put
on a pair of boxer shorts and a baggy V-neck tee, thinking that Lucas
would appreciate her attempt to cover up, and then went to the
linen closet to find an air mattress she was pretty sure her dad had
gotten for his birthday a few years ago.
At the bottom of the closet she found the unused kit herding dust
bunnies around its corners and brought it back into her bedroom.
She sat down on the floor, opened the box, and took out the different