Rowdy looked cautiously hopeful.

“With things as they stand—the dad in jail and the mother’s recovery uncertain—the judge can okay the placement, but Reese and Alice will have to do foster-care classes.” He answered Rowdy’s unasked question. “They’re already setting it up. After six months they’ll be able to petition for adoption.”

“Adoption?” Rowdy straightened with astonishment. “They’d do that?”

Logan made a gruff sound. “I’d like to see someone try to take that kid from Alice.” He turned his coffee cup. “Reese isn’t a slouch. He has decent savings. But if the legal end gets costly, well, Pepper and I talked about it and I have that damned trust fund I’m not really using, so we know it’d go to good use.”

Such generosity touched Avery, but Rowdy...he looked sucker punched. Voice faint, he said, “They’ll actually get to keep him.”

Avery loved how he said that, showing he considered Marcus a wonderful gift, not a burden.

“It’s a rough road ahead,” Logan said. “There aren’t any magic shortcuts.”

And finally, Avery saw Rowdy’s charming smile. “I’ll go over this morning and see if I can help get things started.”

* * *

IT HADN’T BEEN easy talking Avery into going back to her place while he visited Marcus. She’d badly wanted to come along, but when he made it sound like a hardship to wait for her to shower and change, she’d relented.

Truthfully, he missed her already. But being here, knowing what Marcus thought and how he felt, left Rowdy raw. He didn’t want Avery to see him like this, his emotions exposed.

Alice... Well, he had a feeling Alice already knew him inside and out. From day one, he hadn’t been able to hide a single thing from her.

As she formally introduced Marcus to Rowdy, Alice kept an arm around the kid. He wore a pugnacious expression of dislike for Rowdy, while almost pushing Alice off balance as he tried to get closer to her. Cash sat on the other side of the boy, whining.

Kneeling down, Rowdy said, “C’mere boy.” And Cash launched at him, licking his face, trying to crowd into his lap. Laughing, Rowdy dropped to his butt to accommodate the dog.

“Will he hurt your back?” Alice fretted.

“He’s fine.” When he got Cash to calm down, Rowdy stroked his neck and scratched his long black ears. “You like dogs, Marcus?”

The boy’s bottom lip quivered, then firmed. “Guess so.”

So much belligerence. “Ever had a pet before?”

He shook his head.

“I never have, either. My parents didn’t allow it, and after they were gone...” He shook his head. “I was never really settled enough to have a pet.”

“He’s settled now, though,” Alice said.

“Whenever I come around, Cash gets so excited that half the time he pees on my shoes.”

Marcus looked horrified by that idea, but Alice just laughed. “Now, Rowdy, you know he hasn’t done that in...a month.”

True, the dog was learning and rarely had accidents anymore. “Seeing me gets him extra wound up for some reason.” Maybe Cash’s adoration would soften Marcus’s attitude toward him. “But I don’t mind too much, do I, buddy?”

Speaking to the dog like that really got him going, and Cash went berserk all over again. He almost knocked Rowdy over.

Marcus stepped behind Alice’s legs.

Rowdy understood. Adults could be unpredictable, seeming open and friendly one moment, obscenely violent the next. He got it.

Laughing, he asked Marcus, “Has he peed on you yet?”

Marcus shook his head.

“Just you wait. I can tell he likes you a lot. Did Alice tell you how Reese got the dog?”

Alice smoothed the boy’s hair. “A few times now,” she said.

“Reese is like that,” Rowdy agreed. “My brother-in-law, Logan, too. They’re cops. You know that, right?”

Staring at his feet, Marcus mumbled, “Yeah.”

That one word held so much suspicion; it felt like a rhino sat on Rowdy’s chest. “They’re good guys, Marcus. Good friends.”

“The best,” Alice agreed.

Marcus didn’t look convinced.

“Reese saved Cash, ya know?” He tickled under the dog’s chin. “And Alice, well, she likes to save everyone, me included.”

Marcus looked up at her.

Alice laughed. “That’s not true, Rowdy, and you know it. You saved yourself long before I ever met you.”

Marcus’s small face pinched with curiosity.

Sitting there on the floor, a dog sprawled over his legs, Alice smiling, Marcus terrified, Rowdy wasn’t sure how to proceed.

Maybe seeing the kid wasn’t such a great idea. What the hell could he say?

The truth? He doubted anyone had ever been square with the kid. Sure, Marcus was only eight or so, but he’d already seen more in his short life than most ever had to suffer.

Remembering his own youth, the uncertainty from not knowing, Rowdy tried to think of a way to reassure him.

Maybe the truth would do what platitudes couldn’t.

He met Marcus’s gaze. “I was a lot like you, except that I have a sister. I did my best to make sure my parents never hurt her.”

Time ticked by in silence. Other than Alice’s hand stroking through the boy’s hair, no one moved.

“Did they anyway?”