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and cowers on the floor near my bed. That’s when Morgan comes flying in. I see him take in the situation with one sweeping glance. He ignores me, my panting, my angry scowl and my clenched fists. He goes to my mother and offers her a hand up, “Ma’am?” She takes his hand and he pulls her to her feet, putting an arm around her waist and escorting her out of my room.
     
    I hear them talking quietly in the hallway and I sink down on my bed, elbows on my knees and hands gripping my hair. I don’t do well with other people’s emotions. I don’t deal with my own at all. Anger is the worst one. There’s so much flashing and bursts and a restlessness to move sometimes destroy.
     
    I hear my door click closed softly and don’t move. Morgan comes to kneel between my legs, forcing my head up. He holds his arms up, wordlessly asking, as is his habit. I reach out and clutch him to me. It pulls him off his knees and he’s scrambling for balance so I just pull him a little higher to straddle my lap.
     
    Oh. Wow. I like this. This is the best hug so far.
     
    Morgan whispers near my ear softly, “Haden, I think it’s time we talked about Mallory. Do you think you’re ready for that?” I know I am, I’ve just been avoiding it as long as possible. It’s going to hurt bad no matter when I tell him and I’ve known from the first day I will tell him. So it seems like the best thing would just be to get it over with.
     
    I lean back a bit and pull my cell out of my pocket, scooting back further on the bed so my knees are at the edge. Now Morgan can rest his weight more comfortably, because I don’t want him to leave, not my life, not my house, not my room and most definitely not my lap. Morgan wiggles a bit to get himself situated and pulls out his own phone.
     
    MORGAN: you know I care about you, if you fired me right now, I’d still care about you just as much
     
    HADEN: you don’t have to convince me
     
    MORGAN: I feel like I do. I DO want desperately to keep my job but only because I want to stay here with you and Mallory so much.
     
    HADEN: I want that too
     
    We both look up and share a tender smile. Then he goes back to typing.
     
    MORGAN: tell me why you never spend any time with Mallory? At first I thought it was just you needing time to adjust to all the changes… but it’s more than that. I didn’t ask your mom because I didn’t want to intrude on your privacy or risk losing your trust.
     
    He looks at me with an intensity and longing that makes me NEED to replace it with something happy
     
    HADEN: thank you Morgan, you’re the best and I don’t deserve you, you’re meant for better than being a shut in housekeeper for a crazy guy and his kid
     
    MORGAN: I’m not the best Haden. I’m… not okay, inside.
     
    HADEN: I know
     
    MORGAN: yeah, people, even your mom sometimes I think, think of you as ‘less’ because you don’t talk, as if you don’t have the intelligence. But I don’t. I know how smart you are, how perceptive. You see and understand too much around you, which is why things overwhelm you a bit quicker than others
     
    HADEN: I never thought about it like that, but it maybe it sounds close
     
    MORGAN: so that’s how I absolutely don’t understand how you can be so kind and generous and open with me, who you’ve known for a week and completely ignore your own child
     
    I feel my jaw and then my whole body tense.
     
    Morgan murmurs, “I’m not judging you Haden, not at all. I’m trying to understand.”
     
    I force myself to relax and bend to my typing once more.
     
    HADEN: so my parents, now just my mom, is wealthy, very wealthy. I grew up in a remote cabin even more luxurious than this one.
     
    MORGAN: okay
     
    HADEN: there’s always a high burnout rate for house staff that worked with me. I was a handful. Well, honestly, I was violent and angry most of the time because I didn’t understand how to turn things down without pushing them out and it would overwhelm