AFTER THEY GET HOME and put Claudia to bed, Paul takes the baby monitor and Alex’s hand and leads him out to their backyard. They climb into the weird wicker daybed they got last summer. Paul loves it because when Alex is tucked against him they’re completely cocooned away from the world. All he can hear is the wind whistling through the canyon, the faint gurgle of water in the pool, and the sound of Alex’s breathing.
“I don’t understand why you’re not mad at me,” Alex says eventually.
“Were you trying to make me mad?”
“Not this time,” Alex says with the faintest breath of a laugh.
“Were you trying to make Liam mad?” Paul asks.
“Definitely.”
“Will you bite my head off if I ask why?” That’s the question Paul keeps coming back to in this clusterfuck.
“No,” Alex says and tucks himself
