“C’mon. It’s time for bed.” Jason stood up and reached out his hand to
Cody, and pulled him to his feet. In
turn, Cody helped Luigi stand up.
For a moment,
Luigi had been afraid that they would all have to share a single bed. But
there was a queen-sized bed in the room.
“Nice big bed!” he
observed.
“Yes. And Eleanor has told me often that she
doesn’t mind me bringing friends home.”
“Maybe she didn’t
have us in mind,” replied Luigi.
“Nah. She likes you both.”
“Did she say so?”
“I could
tell. She’s a lovely person.”
“Yes, she is,” commented
Cody unexpectedly. Round a lump in his
throat, he said, “She’s so kind. She has
such kind, sad eyes.”
“Yeah.” Jason nodded.
“You know, I’ve been so lucky.
After Brent, I felt shredded. I
never thought I’d be happy again. And
yet—not that I’ll ever forget him, never—I am happier now than I ever thought
I’d be. And that’s because of
Eleanor. And you, Lou. And Key.
You’ve made me feel welcome.
Wanted. Loved.” He gave Luigi a
quiet smile, and again, his eyes locked with his friend’s. After a moment he turned to Cody. “You’ve been through some bad times, my dear,
and it’s not going to get better quickly.
But it will. You’ll learn to love
again, to be happy. I was so lucky with
coming to this house of all the houses in Melbourne. It seemed to be by chance. And meeting Lou. And I think it’s a lucky place, this house. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But I mean it. It’s a good place. You’ll be safe here.”
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