Credence

He’s quiet for a moment and then says, “A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves…”

I stop myself before I can shake my head and type in “No Mercy.” It connects within seconds.

Jake comes to my side and glances down. When he sees I got the password correct, he nods, impressed. “You can stay.”

He stands close, and I draw in a breath and take a step away, looking around the room for what’s next. But he stays rooted in place, watching me, and something crosses his eyes that he doesn’t say. Like me, he’s probably wondering what the hell I’m doing here and what he’s going to do with me for a week, or a year, until I leave.

“Are you hungry?” he asks.

“Tired.”

He nods to himself as if just remembering my parents died two days ago, and I’d traveled across four states today. “Of course.”

But I’m not thinking that at all. I just need to be alone now.

He picks up my suitcases, and I follow him upstairs, the bannister wrapping around the square landing at the top. I stop for a moment and turn in a circle, taking in the seven or eight doors around all sides, getting turned around easily in this new place.

“My room.” Jake points directly ahead of us to a deep brown wooden door and then in quick succession around the landing as we pass other rooms. “Bathroom, Noah’s room, and here’s yours.”

He drops my luggage at a door in the corner of the landing, the dim light from the wrought iron chandelier above barely making it possible to get the lay of the land up here, but I don’t care right now.

But then it occurs to me he only pointed out his, Noah’s, and my rooms.

“You have another…son,” I say to him. “Did I take his bedroom?”

There are more doors. I wasn’t infringing on their space, right?

B

ut he just turns his head and jerks his chin off to the right. To the only door on the back wall. The only door between me and the bathroom.

“Kaleb’s room is on the third floor,” he explains. “It’s the only room up there, so no need for a tour. It’s got a great view, though. Lots of air and space. He likes space.” He sighs, his words weighted with frustration as he opens my bedroom door, both dogs rushing inside ahead of us. “Keep that in mind when you meet him and don’t take anything personally.”

I pause a moment, curious what he means, but people say the same thing about me. I glance at his door again, guessing there were stairs behind it, since Jake said his room is on the third floor. Is Kaleb up there? His brother said he was “in.”

Jake opens my door and carries my cases in, and I follow, hearing the click of a lamp and see the glow of the bulb suddenly filling the room.

My chest instantly warms, and I almost smile.

It’s nice.

Not that I expected much, but it’s cozy and uncluttered, and I even have my own fireplace. There are double doors across the room, a bed, a dresser, and a cushioned chair, everything done in woodsy colors leaving plenty of room to pace and spread out on the floor if I want to sit like I often do.

A yawn pulls at my mouth, and my eyes water a little.

“Towels are here,” Jake tells me from the hallway. “Let me know if you need anything.”

He steps back into the room, filling up the doorway, and I stand in the middle of the space.

“Is it okay?” he asks me.

I nod, murmuring, “It’s nice.”

I feel him watch me, and my muscles tighten. “You don’t talk much, do you?”

I glance up at him.

He quirks a smile. “We’ll change that.”