Not-So-Secret

Chapter sixty-three

He closed the door behind him and walked the short distance to the nanny's room. He had to wait a minute for Mrs. Mills to answer the door and when she did, she was holding Shaun. The kid saw James and his face lit up as if he'd seen Santa or the Easter Bunny.

When Mrs. Mills held him out, James took him. It was weird, because the only other kid he'd held was his niece, Megan, who'd been about three. She'd stiffened and screamed so loud he thought he'd need hearing aids. Needless to say, Megan had gone to her mother and James had stayed the hell away from toddlers.

Only, Shaun didn't have that reaction at all. He grabbed on to James's neck yelling, "James, James!" So loud he'd wake the neighbours, if they'd had any.

"Well, you certainly have a friend, don't you?"

"I guess," he said. "Don't know why."

"James!"

Smiling, James looked into the boy's dark eyes, so inquisitive and eager. "How you doin', kiddo?"

"I made pizza!"

"You did?"

Shaun nodded so hard his hair flopped up and down.

"With cheese."

"Wow. That must have been great."

"I spilled 'matos all over the floor."

"Oops. I bet that made a mess."

Shaun nodded again. "Mrs. Mills says I'd try a staint."

"A 'staint', huh?"

"Yeah."

James grinned, looked up to see Mrs. Mills smiling right back.

"And know what else?"

"What?"

Shaun held his hand out as wife as he could. "Mrs. Mills loves me this much."

"That's a whole lot."

"But not as much as Mommy."

"Right. No one can love you as much as Mommy can. And you know what?" He raised his gaze to the nanny. "She'd love to come see you right now."

Shaun shouted and Mrs. Mills nodded, when James turned to go tell Kelly, he saw he didn't have to. She was standing just behind him. Crying.

He went to hand the kid back, but Shaun caught sight of Kelly and that was all they wrote. He was in her arms in a flash and Kelly was wiping tears as she laughed and marveled at his pizza adventure.

What the hell were they doing in this freak show?

These were good people. Decent. Normal. The last people on earth that should be caught up in the end of the world.

But then, that's why he needed to stop Jones, wasn't it? Because of Kelly and Shaun. And all the Kellys and Shauns and Mrs. Millses out there.

So the lesson here was simple. Keep his pants zipped, his hands to himself and stop the madman next door from sending them all to the great beyond. There were still things that needed to be done here. Shaun needed to grow up. Kelly needed to be happy.