Page 55 of The Sweetheart
“It’s okay with me. Let’s ask Kai what he thinks.”
Kai called out to Matteo just then, and they turned to see him jogging towards them, his face still bright.
“Can we give the kids ice cream?” he asked when they were within distance.
“Yeah, of course!” Matteo grinned. Casey and Callum jumped off the couch, wrapping themselves around Kai in a tight hug.
“Nolan said we could ask you if we can go to his pool!” Callum rushed the words out, looking up at him. Kai looked at Nolan, the question in his eyes.
“If their folks are okay with it?” Nolan asked.
“Yeah, Riley’s cool,” Kai answered. The boys cheered.
“You three.” Matteo summoned the boys as Kai doubled back the way he’d come. “Run outside and tell Jenny and Sarah to bring the kids in for a treat and you guys come down to the dining room as well.” All three boys raced for the giant patio door at the back of the rec room that opened into an enormous backyard. In the far back, Nolan could see a play structure with a small group of kids sitting in a circle, playing a game led bytwo adults. The boys shoved each other out of the way as they tried to get out first.
“Everything’s a competition with those three.” Matteo shook his head as they started back towards the front.
“That seems pretty standard. My brothers and my cousins and I were almost constantly trying to outdo each other, but wherever you found one of us, there were at least five more nearby.”
“Yep. Sounds like those three.” When they entered the dining room again, Jason and Kai had all of the ice cream containers lined up across the island, prying off lids, while the kids handed each other cones and formed a sort of haphazard line while they waited their turn.
“Oh my God, it looks like Baskin-Robbins over here!” Matteo shook his head again. “Seriously, you have no idea what this means to these kids. It breaks my heart, the way some of them have never experienced kindness.”
“But you’re here changing that.”
Matteo quirked a half smile at Nolan. “And you too. Don’t think I haven’t noticed what you’ve done for Kai. He’s a good kid. I have wished more than once that we’d had a chance with him when he was younger. He really struggles with confidence. I think that’s why?—”
He broke off, shaking himself like he thought better about what he was about to say. “Never mind. Sorry.”
“No, please. I want to help Kai in any way that I can. Kai respects you. I don’t think he would mind if there was something you thought I should know.”
Matteo’s mouth firmed, like whatever he was going to say irritated him. “Have you met Liam?”
“Yeah. Briefly.”
“I’m not so sure if Kai would mind me saying it, but the truthis, I think his issues with confidence are why he’s relied so heavily on Liam.”
“What I know about Liam isn’t great,” Nolan said quietly.
“Those two are bonded for life so, for your sake, I hope that changes.” Kai looked up just then, saw the two of them by the door, and beckoned them over eagerly.
They looked at each other, grinning, and then headed into the trenches.
22
“That was so much fun,” Kai said for the half-dozenth time, still thrumming with energy as they buckled their seatbelts. It was early evening now. Kai had a blast handing out ice cream to the kids. By the time they’d finished, the group kids had been let out, and Nolan had a chance to meet Matteo’s mother, Anna. She was tall and softly curved, with heavy streaks of grey shot through her black curls, feisty as hell and incredibly passionate about the kids she was trying to help. She’d insisted that Kai and Nolan stay for family dinner, which took place at her house next door. Since it was summer, they ate in the backyard. Four picnic tables ran down one side of the yard under strings of lights, and Matteo, his four siblings and their family crowded the table as well as Jason, the twins and a few staff members from the centre.
“I’m glad you had fun. You know, if you’d told me what you were up to, we could’ve gone to Costco.” He took Kai’s hand in his as they pulled out of the driveway.
“Don’t you have to pay to get in there?” Kai scoffed.
“You need a membership, which, incidentally, I have.”
“Can we do that next time? I mean, if you want to do itagain?” Kai fidgeted with his seatbelt, hope and hesitation playing across his handsome features.
“Yeah, of course. We can do it whenever you want.”
“Kind of sucks we never found the kid from last night though.”
