This was an amazing little family. And suddenly, Keaton felt selfish for wanting Brooke all to himself.
“I’m gonna fail…” Justin’s pathetic wail pulled Keaton back and tugged at his heart. Especially when the kid started coughing. The raw sound made Keaton wince.
“Oh, come on. Stop,” Brooke told him, but gave Keaton a helpless, pained look before telling Justin, “What about that one last year, where someone showed how a tooth disintegrated when it was left in a cup of Coke? You could do that…um, maybe. If you could get a hold of a tooth…”
Keaton made a face at the premise.
“Ew, Aunt Brooke…” Justin said.
“Okay, okay.” She pressed her hands to her head. “It was just a suggestion. I’m still thinking. Take another hit on your inhaler, kid. Your Darth Vader impression is a little unnerving.”
The combination of Justin’s illness, the topic of a science fair, and her sister being asleep in the house was obviously unsettling for Brooke. Keaton didn’t doubt she was also feeling the weight of another two months away from the boy on her shoulders right about now. If their situations were reversed, Keaton would be.
He reached out and clasped her foot, offering a reassuring squeeze.
She glanced at him and gave him a two-second smile, before telling Justin, “I’m not exactly a science genius. Maybe we should wake your mom.”
That sounded like a cry for help to Keaton.
“You wouldn’t say that if you saw the mood she was in before she fell asleep,” Justin said.
Brooke laughed. “You can sound so old and wise one minute and like a whining two-year-old the next, you know that?”
“Whatever.”
“And pissy teenager the next,” she added.
“Mom doesn’t like that word.”
“I thought Mom was asleep.”
While they sparred, Keaton found a notepad and pen, scribbled What’s he into? and handed it to Brooke. Then he opened her iPad and googled science fair projects.
She handed back the answer. Computers. Hates sports.
Keaton nodded. With lungs like that, who could enjoy sports? Man, that made Keaton sad. He searched computer-related projects while Brooke and Justin continued to brainstorm a few minutes. But when the boy started coughing, the sound was so raw, it made Keaton pull his shoulders up around his ears and rub his chest.
“Baby, what’s going on with your asthma?”
“You have to ask Mom.”
“How long has it been this bad?”
“Just today.”
“How long has it been getting a little worse every day?”
She’d obviously seen this pattern before, and Keaton was getting a deeper view of why she’d moved in with her sister. Brooke wasn’t just a means of emotional s
upport after the death of her brother-in-law. She obviously had a deep investment in her nephew, whose school and health took considerable time. Keaton’s little fantasy of hooking Brooke enough to keep seeing him after his role in the movie was over, faded fast.
“Maybe a week?” Justin said.
“And your mom knows it’s this bad?”
“Yeah. She talked to the doctors about it. They’re trying something new. And before you ask what, I don’t know. You really have to ask her.”
Brooke sighed. “I want you to sleep in her room tonight.”