Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

come. “Any specific reason?”
“Because I can’t do it,” Hugo said. “And I want to.”
Mei hesitated, but only for a moment. And then Wallace stumbled against
the wall as she latched onto him, arms around his waist, her head lying on his
chest.
“Hug me back,” she demanded. “It’s weird if you don’t. What the boss
man wants, the boss man gets.”
“This is already weird,” Wallace muttered, but did as she asked. It felt
good, having this. More than he expected it to. It wasn’t like it’d been after
Desdemona. It was … more.
“This is from Hugo,” she told him, unnecessarily.
“I know,” he whispered.
Alan looked like he was going to argue. He scowled, arms crossed
defensively, ire clear. But he seemed to be listening.
“He’ll get through to him,” Nelson said, watching his grandson and their
new guest.
Wallace wasn’t so sure. He believed in Hugo, but he didn’t know what
Alan would do in response. He wasn’t quite on board with the idea of them
going off alone, even if it was only to the backyard. “What if he doesn’t?”
“Then he doesn’t,” Nelson said. “And though it will be through no fault of
his own, he’ll carry the guilt with him just as he’s done for Cameron and Lea.
Remember what I told you? Empathetic to a fault. That’s our Hugo.”
“She didn’t come in today.”
Nelson knew who he meant. “She’ll be back. Nancy might take a day or
three, but she always comes back.”
“Will she come around?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to think she will, but there’s…” He coughed into
the back of his hand. “There’s something about losing a child that destroys a
person.”
Wallace felt like an idiot. Of course Nelson would understand. Hugo had
lost his parents, which also meant Nelson had lost a child. Guilt tugged at
him that he’d never thought to ask. “Which one?”