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Bobby’s in the kitchen when Rose comes home with the groceries. He’s leaning against the counter, scrolling on his phone and eating an apple, but he puts his phone away and holds his snack between his teeth so he can take some of the bags from her.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” Rose says as she starts unloading cans onto the counter. “Where is everybody?”
Bobby hums and shifts his bags so he can take the apple out of his mouth. “Dad took Julie and Luke to Eats and Beats cause some indie group’s playing. Reggie and Carlos are at the skatepark with Willie, and I think Mr. Wilson’s gonna bring them home after dinner.”
“You didn’t want to go with them?”
Bobby shrugs. “Nah. Long day.”
Those two words tell Rose a lot more than Bobby’s able to say, so she doesn’t push it. “And Alex?”
Bobby makes a face and then tries to hide it by taking another bite of his apple. “Think he’s upstairs, doing homework or something.”
Rose frowns, loading the last of the groceries onto the counter. “I thought I told you kids to work on including him.”
“We’ve tried, Mom,” Bobby insists. He tosses his apple core into the trash and starts putting the groceries away, an easy excuse not to look at her. “I think Luke even invited him to the show, he’s not interested. And I don’t think he likes us very much.”
“He’s adjusting,” Rose reminds him. “And he had it really hard before he came to live with us.”
“Yeah, so? We all had it hard.” Bobby punctuates his words by slamming food items into their places in the fridge and pantry. “Reggie lost his folks, Luke felt strangled enough by his to run away six times, mine didn’t touch me for eight years. None of us took that as invitations to be assholes.” He adds, before she can chide him, “Sorry. You know what I mean.”
Rose sighs. She supposes she can’t really have expected Alex to become best friends with his foster siblings, the way they’ve been lucky enough to become friends with each other. She supposes the six of them co-existing at all—Bobby and Alex especially, sharing a room as they do—has to be good enough for now, after everything Alex has been through.
She supposes she can’t blame Alex for having trust issues, and she can’t blame the rest of the kids for wanting to avoid getting hurt.
“Will you finish putting these away?” she asks, reaching up to run a hand through Bobby’s hair. “And then I’ll try to get him out of your room so you can have some time to yourself before dinner.”
Bobby lets out a long sigh, tension visibly bleeding out of his shoulders as he stands in the light of the refrigerator. “Yeah. Thanks, Mom.”
Rose heads upstairs and knocks on the door to the bedroom at the far end of the hall.
The music playing softly inside—Billy Joel; she’s impressed—cuts off abruptly, and a moment later, Alex opens the door. He looks exhausted, hair out of place and eyes tinged with red, but his posture is as stiff and perfect as ever, one hand curled tight around the doorknob. “Hello.”
Rose manages a smile, even though looking at Alex usually makes her heart chip a piece. “Hi, sweetheart. I just wanted to let you know I was home. How’s your day been, do you need anything?”
“No, ma’am,” Alex says politely. “I’m just studying.”
“Test tomorrow?”
Alex glances over his shoulder. “Friday. And one next Tuesday. But I like to get ahead.”
“That’s good,” Rose says. “Come study in the living room for a while, will you? Bobby had a long day, he’d like to rest for a bit before dinner. No one else is home. I promise I won’t distract you.”
Alex hesitates, opens his mouth like he’s going to protest, and then closes it again. His jaw goes tight, but his tone is neutral when he says, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be down in a minute.”
He closes the door, just short of in her face, before Rose can say more, can ask him if he’d like a drink or a snack or to do something just the two of them, instead of more homework.
Not that she really expects him to take her up on that last one. But it’s like she’s been telling the kids—they have to try. To make an effort, to make Alex feel included, wanted, part of their family.
Even if it takes time. And a lot more effort than it took with the rest of them.