Josh was already making coffee, and Logan had slumped miserably into one of the chairs at the table. He was crying, making Jack think that Josh had forced Logan into coming into the house and the tears were of frustration. Something wasn’t right, the tension was so thick that Jack could have cut it with a knife.

“What?” he asked generally.

Logan looked at him with a pathetic, puppy-eyed expression. Josh smacked a coffee onto the table and also one for Jack, before selecting his own chair.

“Tell him,” Josh demanded.

Logan shifted uncomfortably.

“Tell me what?” Jack asked. It couldn’t be awful otherwise Josh would have had a very different expression on his face. Guilt crept into Jack; Josh had asked him to talk to Logan, and it hadn’t happened.

“Dad,” Logan whined. He looked every inch the sullen teenager that he was. His dark hair was in one of those styles that swept over his forehead, meaning it could slip a little and hide his eyes. Something he was using to his advantage now.

“Tell him what you did, Logan.”

“Daaad.”

“Logan will be working with you around school hours. For free,” Josh snapped.

Jack looked from his brother to his nephew. “He will?”

“Starting today.”

“Okay,” Jack began. “That’s, um, does someone want to tell me why?”

Logan slumped even lower. Any second and he’d be on the floor. “Icrashedthecar.”

Jack raised a single eyebrow to Josh in question. He recalled Josh driving their mom’s car into a tree when he was eleven. Surely Josh remembered that? If he remembered correctly, Josh had been grounded for an entire semester.

“Tell your uncle everything.”

Logan sat upright. This time he was less sullen and more focused. “I said I was sorry.” He looked directly at Jack. “I didn’t mean to. Dad wouldn’t let me use it.” He began to defend his actions, but almost as quickly he realized what he was doing and the sullen teenager was back. “I was fooling around.”

“Tell him what happened.”

Logan shook his head mutely, and Jack thought he saw a tear track down Logan’s cheek.

Josh softened his tone. “Logan.”

Logan looked up, then in a small voice, he explained. “Sarah was playing outside before breakfast, and when I missed the brake, I flattened her bike.”

Jack’s chest tightened. “Shit, Logan,” he said before he could censor his reaction.

Logan’s face crumpled. “I didn’t mean to.”

Josh moved to put his arm over Logan’s shoulder. “We know you didn’t mean to, but it’s the last in a long line of things, isn’t it?”

Logan leaned into his dad. “Yes.”

Jack considered the situation and saw the confusion in Josh’s expression as he spoke calmly but still had temper flashing in his words.

“Go find Robbie, Logan,” Jack said. “He’s out with Solo and Alex. Tell him you’re volunteering.”

Logan looked up at him and nodded. “I am sorry. So sorry.”

“Go find Robbie. Everything will be okay.”

As soon as Logan left, Josh collapsed in a melted heap head first on the table.

“You all right?” Jack asked. “Josh?”

“M’fine…” Josh said. He pushed himself upright and grabbed his coffee, sloshing some over his hand. “I need whiskey.”

Jack didn’t immediately go and fetch any, he wasn’t convinced that alcohol was what Josh needed. “What’s up with Logan?”

Josh shook his head. “He used to have nice friends. Remember that Cory kid? Now, he’s with a new group of boys and girls. He’s not working at school, playing truant, generally rude and disrespectful, teasing Lea until she cries, partying, and I caught him smoking. He was grounded, but he took the keys and was fooling about. When we heard the noise—” Josh paled. “Shit, I thought Sarah was under the car. Logan was crying, hysterical. I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into him.”

Jack thought his brother sounded hysterical himself. “Whatever I can do,” he reassured. “You want me to talk to him? Because I tried yesterday, and it didn’t go so well.”

“God, yes. You were my first thought. If he’s busy here every spare minute, then he’s not going to get into trouble. He listens to you.”

“Is Sarah okay?”

Josh sighed. “She was indoors. I keep saying she should move her bike into the backyard, but—”

The door opened and Riley walked in, weighed down with files and papers he’d brought in from the car. He walked straight past Jack and Josh, then returned almost immediately, his arms now empty.

“Oil reports,” he muttered and helped himself to coffee. “Sundays should be for sleeping,” he said on a yawn.

He looked tired, a little worn around the edges, but he’d been very physical last night. Still, even tired, Riley was a sight for sore eyes. He sat with his coffee, and only after a few sips, did he relax and wink at Jack.

“Hi, Josh,” he said before leaning over in his chair and kissing Jack square on the lips.

“Josh brought Logan over. He’s working with us for the foreseeable future.”

Riley frowned. “What about school?”

“Around school,” Josh said.

“Okaaaay. I’m assuming this isn’t some sudden burning need to be near horses from Logan?”

Josh shook his head. “He’s working off a punishment.”

“What did he do?” Riley asked. “Stay out late or something?” Riley was trying to lighten the mood like he always did, but Jack decided to send a warning look.

Josh placed his coffee mug very deliberately on the table. “What didn’t he do? He crashed the car, skipped school, is rude and disrespectful, and makes his sister cry.”

Riley wisely stayed quiet. He didn’t know the bike part, and that sudden spiking fear that Josh’s youngest, only little, was potentially hurt. He was only facing a parent with a teenage son.

“I’ll talk to him,” Jack said.

“Or I could. After all, I’m the cool uncle,” Riley deadpanned.

Josh shook his head, “I don’t care who talks to him, I just want him to talk to someone. The minute Anna or I walk in his room, he clams up. He spends so much time on his phone we took it off him, but he took it back without us knowing. I don’t know what’s happened to him.”

Jack reached over and pressed a hand to Josh’s arm. “He’s a young man now, finding his way in the world.”

“Don’t make excuses for him,” Josh said. He sounded more resigned than angry. “The last few months have been hard, with Anna and the pregnancy and all.”

“I’m not making excuses, big brother. I recall what we were like. He’ll get through this.”

Josh stood. “Can he stay for the weekend?”

“You think that’s wise?” Riley asked. “Will he think like he’s been dumped here? Like you’ve washed your hands of the whole situation, and him?”

Jack looked at Riley, heard the absolute sincerity in his voice, and winced internally. What the hell had happened in the Hayes household that Riley would think that? Logan would never feel dumped.

“Of course he can stay,” Jack answered, “and leave it with me.”

Josh left with some of Carol’s cookies, and his mood was lighter than it had been when he arrived.

Riley ate the two remaining cookies at high speed, and he evidently had something on his mind. “I meant what I said, about Logan being dumped here,” he began.

Jack raised a hand to stop him. “I know you did, and I get it. I’ll go talk to Logan, and by the time we’re done, he’ll think it’s his idea to stay here for a few days.”

“Really?”

Jack cradled Riley’s face and rubbed his thumbs along his cheekbones. “Josh may be furious with what’s going on with Logan, but at the core of it, he’s feeling powerless. He and Anna will have tried everything. They haven’t abandoned him, but they know that maybe something else will help. They need to find that something else, and they’re starting with me.”

Riley sighed. “I didn’t have any of that. I acted out for fuck knows what reasons, and it was okay, no one was there to see it anyway.”