“Ma’am, it is a very generous offer, and I do appreciate it. A corny thing is about to come out of my mouth, and I apologize for it in advance, but here it is anyway. You say nobody will know, but I’ll know. And my mother would know. I don’t know how, because she’s in her mid-eighties and doesn’t remember my name half the time, but something tells me the next time I saw her she’d take one look in my eyes and say, ‘Oh, Patrick, what have you done?’”
Aubrey laughed, and Brady smiled. “I’m not kidding, she’s like that. I promise you, I’m being paid very well for this job, what’s in that bag would just be, well, more, and in my experience, more money doesn’t mean more better. It just means more. Sometimes having more even creates a need for more that wasn’t there before. So, no, thank you. I’ll take you up on the offer of the couch, and if I could trouble you for a bit of dinner, I’d be grateful for that too. But then I’ll take the money and go back and do my best to make your brother understand that some people just want to make it under their own steam. Sounds good?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“May I ask a personal question, though?”
“This wasn’t personal yet?”
“Why won’t you take it? Really.”
She took a breath and looked away. “There’s only one person in the entire world that Thom owes anything to. Me. I guess I’d like to keep it that way.” She looked back at him. “Childish, right?”
Brady shrugged. “Well, you were children together.”
“Briefly.”
“Still. Things stick. I have a wealthy brother. He sends me a card with a hundred-dollar bill in it every year on my birthday. Drives me nuts. I make my own living.”
“Did you tell him to stop?”
“Nah, we don’t talk like that. I just give it to the first homeless guy I see. Makes his day.”
Aubrey gestured to the duffel bag. “If your brother sent you that during a blackout, would you keep it?”
“Well, of course I would. I’m not an idiot. No offense.”
“Who could possibly take offense at that?”
“I’m leaving early in the morning. Gives you some time. Why don’t you think about it overnight? No sweat either way.”
She smiled. “Would I freak you out if I said I liked your style, Patrick?”
“You would not.”
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
“Starving.”
“Peanut butter and jelly OK?”
“Peanut butter and jelly is a dream come true,” Brady said, and he meant it.
Half an hour later, the dusky light was shining through the kitchen window as Aubrey, Brady, Scott, and Celeste sat down to a dinner of PBJs, once-frozen peas, and tap water. The teenagers, who’d deigned to come downstairs from Scott’s room for the meal, had the clingy, blissed-out look of a young couple who had recently discovered the joys of premarital sex, and Aubrey thought she needed to somehow, someway, find a supply of at least a hundred condoms. It was going to be a long blackout, and she had no intention of taking the Little House thing all the way to giving birth to a step-grandchild on her dining room table.
“Should we do gratitudes?” Celeste asked, just as they started to eat.
The others looked at her. Outside, a car’s engine roared as someone came down the street, too fast.
“You know, gratitudes,” she tried again. “We go around and everybody has to say one thing they’re grateful for, even if it’s hard to think of. Especially if it’s hard to think of, that’s kinda the point. My mom used to have us do it every night during COVID, but then—well, we don’t anymore.”
Scott’s arm moved, and Aubrey could tell he was putting a reassuring hand on her thigh. Condoms. Gotta get condoms. Outside, a car door slammed.
Brady brightened, looking at Celeste. “Great idea. Can I go first?” Nobody objected, so he did. “I’m grateful to be here with you all. I realize I busted in, and here you’re feeding me and sheltering me, and, well, that means a lot to me.”
Celeste slapped him lightly on his bulky arm. “You took mine.” She turned to Aubrey. “Thank you for having me here. Very much.”
“I’m grateful for bread,” Scott said inelegantly, through a mouthful of it. “How much more bread do we have? Is there even gonna be bread anymore? When’s the—”
“Helloo?”
They all turned, and from the kitchen table they could see all the way down the center hall to the front door, which was open. There was a silhouette in the screen, somebody cupping their hands to block out the light so they could get a look inside the house.