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emotions as easily as water over a dam. John might not approve of the situation Cassie had gotten Tim into, but she had nurtured a warm, loving, sweet, funny, all around nice little boy.
    They ate in silence, broken only by Tim’s slurps of milk and cereal. He finished his picture between bites. A few moments later he held it up with a big grin and said, “Done!”
    John took the paper Tim had ripped from his book. On it was a blue and red polka-dotted dinosaur, standing under a rainbow, and next to a house. John stared at it, nodding as if studying it in great detail. Finally he looked at Tim with a smile. “This is one fine drawing. I’ll have to put it on my desk. Is that okay?”
    Tim bobbed his head up and down, his brown eyes big saucers of earnest sincerity. “Maybe it’ll make some of the sick kids feel better when they see it.”
    John’s heart pinged. “You know Tim; I think it will make sick kids feel better when they see it.”
    “Hi.”
    Cassie stood in the entrance to the kitchen. He frowned at her interruption.
    “Mommy! I made John a picture. He said he’d take it to work to heal sick kids.”
    Cassie ruffled Tim’s hair, and then looked at the drawing. “Well that’s really nice of John isn’t it?”
    Tim nodded. He bounced out of his chair.
    “Bowl to sink Tim. There’s no maid here.”
    He sighed in exaggeration.
    “Go brush your teeth, we have to get going.”
    Tim dumped the ceramic bowl into the sink and ran off. Cassie winced when the bowl bounced off the porcelain. John turned his back to Cassie.
    “Thanks for being nice to him. He’s pretty confused about everything. And with no school to distract him, he’s not only scared but bored.”
    John turned, eyebrows raised. “Is it so hard to believe I can separate out you and him? Not his fault. Any of it. I know that.”
    “Actually yes it is hard for me to believe.” Cassie turned away from him and left. He gritted his teeth. Here it starts. Seven in the morning and he was already pissed off before he even stepped out the front door.
    ****
    This was not how Cassie expected her day to start; walking in on John, laughing, smiling, and being kind to her son as they ate side by side, while Tim beamed in happiness. And much to Cassie’s chagrin, Tim was mimicking John. When John took a big spoonful of cereal and milk, so then did Tim, watching John all the while. John, reading the newspaper, didn’t seem to notice the extent that Tim followed his lead.
    She hadn’t expected John to be so nice to her son, or to take his worries over first grade to heart. She assumed he would ignore Tim. Her heart squeezed in her chest; it was painful to witness how much her son needed a father.
    She shook her head and grabbed some coffee before she left the house to drop Tim with Estelle and get to work. After only a few moments at her desk, John called her into his office. He indicated for her to shut the door. Shit. Door closing wasn’t a good sign.
    She waited. Her foot tapped on the floor. Tim’s drawing was scotch taped on the wall behind John’s desk. It was the only unprofessional item in his office. He leaned back in his chair and gave her a long look. Finally he said, “This isn’t going to work.”
    “What’s not going to work?”
    “You need protection and you’ll get that living with Luke and me. But I can’t have you at home and work too. It can only be one or the other.”
    She nearly fell off her chair. He wasn’t going to let her work? “I need the money.”
    “Why? You’re staying with us. So there will be no rent or utilities for you to worry about.”
    “I need to buy things for myself and my kid. I’m not going to come ask you every time I need money.”
    “I just told you not to worry about it.”
    She squeezed her finger nails into her thigh. She held her breath and counted backwards from ten so she didn’t speak. How dare he? Order her out of the job Harry had arranged for her? He knew damn good and well she