“You’ll stay here?” Pip finally asked in a small voice.

“Right beside you.” Spud leaned against the wall, his knees up and his forearms resting on them. He waited as Pip considered his words. Then the boy scooted out of the corner and slid back under the covers.

Spud figured he should tell Pip a bedtime story as they lay in the darkness of the room. He had started the tale of Rumpelstiltskin but remembered that it led to the kidnapping of a child, so he switched to the story of the king with no clothing. By the end, Pip was asleep. Spud went to his own room, retrieved a blanket and pillow, and returned, curling up on the floor so that he would be there if the boy woke up. He would keep his word.

That first day at the shack began with Pip asking where his mother was. Spud dodged the question by asking Pip about his father, a subject that made Pip strangely quiet. They had no toys or games at the shack, so Spud made up a game where Pip would hide a spoon and Spud had to find it—because the shack was too small to play actual hide-and-seek.

Reed finally stopped by before going to his evening shift, pulling into the yard around two in the afternoon. When Pip heard his father walking up the steps, he ran into the kitchen to stand beside Spud.

“I bear gifts,” Reed called out as he entered the shack, a bag of groceries in each hand. He placed the bags on the kitchen table and unpacked a jug of milk and a box of cereal without so much as a glance at his son.

“Did you bring a coloring book for Pip?” Spud asked.

Reed dropped his smile and shot Spud a look, his eyes narrow and cold. Spud had a good four inches on Reed, and although Reed was thick for his size, Spud probably had thirty pounds on him as well. But the look on Reed’s face made the big man feel small. Reed turned his back on Spud, putting the milk into the rusted refrigerator without answering the question. Of course he hadn’t brought a coloring book.

Reed returned to the table to lift a package of Oreos out of the bag. It was only then that he sought out the boy. “You like cookies, don’t you?”

Pip remained quiet, standing behind Spud’s leg.

Reed opened the package, took out a cookie, and popped it into his mouth. Then he held the package down for Pip. “Go on. I won’t bite you.”

Pip took a single cookie and walked to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Reed watched the boy walk away and said, “It’s gonna take some time to work the poison out. I knew she messed with his head, but… Christ.”

“He needs games,” Spud said. “Something to bring him out of his shell.”

Reed cocked his head slightly. “You’re an expert on raising kids? Here I thought you said you were a college dropout.”