“I’m hungry,” Jim called out, right on cue.  “Anyone else?”

Aden immediately answered with a quiet “Me.”

As I stared at Aden in surprise, forgetting that I needed to encourage him rather than stare, a premonition hit.  Like a song played too often on the radio, it crawled into my head and stuck there on repeat.  I didn’t visibly react but did start to worry. When I’d run, I hadn’t given any thought to what I would do with them.

When it came to my premonitions, my brain acted as a broken ticker.  A string of letters and numbers, the market code followed by the gain, repeated until I passed the information on to someone else.

I’d once tried withholding the information from Richard, but that hadn’t worked out very well for me.  I discovered that the longer the letters and numbers repeated, the more uncomfortable I became.  My head began to ache annoyingly, and I grew irritable.  The pain gradually expanded until it reached an agony so piercing that it brought me to my knees, sobbing and clutching at my head.  I ended up screaming the market code to Richard.  I never willingly withheld the information after that.  But I did learn something very significant from the attempt; as soon as the information left me, the pain ended.

I bit my lip as I followed everyone toward the house.  I couldn’t just give the information to Liam and Aden; I’d tried that once, and it hadn’t worked.  My need to stay hidden limited my options to the other three adults in the building.  If I gave it to one of them, they wouldn’t think anything of it the first time.  But what about the fifth or sixth?  Offloading a tip always earned me a week’s reprieve until the next premonition struck.  Always seven days apart.  To the minute.  They’d notice and would start asking questions I couldn’t answer.  Maybe I should have gone with Nana.  I could have given it to some random person, then.

Both Liam and Emmitt stopped on the porch to watch me when I lagged behind.  I suppressed a sigh and followed them up the steps.  I would easily make it through the rest of the day.  Tomorrow, though, I’d suffer if I didn’t come up with a plan before then.

Emmitt stood aside while Liam and I entered Jim’s apartment.  The back of my neck tingled, and I knew he studied me.  I couldn’t consider him as an option.  He saw too much.

Jim stood in front of the refrigerator, listing out possibilities for lunch.  His large frame put emphasis on the tiny boy standing next to him.  Aden barely passed Jim’s knee.  Jim seemed to understand Aden’s timid nature and only asked yes and no questions in a teasing manner.  By process of elimination, Jim helped Aden choose cold cut sandwiches.

I sat quietly and watched Jim explain to the boys how he made his triple-decker sandwich.  The meat-stacked sandwich towered on his plate, and I wondered how he’d even bite it.  I studied Jim and realized he might be a perfect answer to my current problem.  He seemed like the type of person who teased and smiled a lot, not taking anything too seriously.  The kind of person who wouldn’t take a stock tip seriously.  I tried to think of a way to pass the information to him without being obvious, but with Emmitt’s gaze still on me, nothing inspiring came to mind.  So, I kept quiet.

We were still eating when Nana walked in, carrying three paper bags.  Emmitt quickly rose to help her.

“I think you’ll be happy with what I found,” Nana said, setting two bags on Jim’s couch.  “Emmitt, can you get the other bags for me?  They are on the porch.”  He nodded and stepped out.

Nana reached into one of the bags and pulled out a ball cap.  “I have one for both of you.  It’s good to wear outside so you don’t burn,” she said to the boys.  She set the caps on the couch then turned for the next item in the bag.

I glanced at the boys to see what they thought but, instead, witnessed Jim reach over and take a huge bite of Emmitt’s sandwich.  He grinned at me while he did it.  My lips twitched, surprising myself.  Both the boys smiled when they saw my reaction but ducked their heads down to keep eating.

Emmitt walked back through the door with three more bags.  He set them on the couch and went back to his sandwich, and I turned my attention back to Nana.  From the corner of my eye, I saw him give Jim an annoyed glance before eating the rest of his sandwich in two bites.

From the bags, Nana pulled out a stack of shorts for each boy, several pair of long pants, shirts, shoes, sandals, and swim trunks.  She had provided both with a full wardrobe, including brand new underwear and socks.  Two of the six bags remained untouched.

“Michelle, I hope you don’t mind, but I found a few things that I couldn’t resist getting for you.”  She indicated the bags.  “Would you like to see?”  She gave me a hopeful look, so I nodded.  Who was I kidding?  I felt giddy that she’d thought of me.

Like the boys, I now owned several pair of shorts, two additional pair of jeans, and several printed tees.

“I’ll let you look through the rest on your own,” she said, stopping halfway through the second bag.  “If something doesn’t fit, just let me know.”

Jim piped up behind me.  “What?  No suit for her?  Come on Nana, tomorrow’s the fourth.  We could go to the lake.”

Nana shot Jim a dirty look.  “Of course, I bought her one.  She can look for herself.”

Jim grunted loudly, and I turned to look at him.  Emmitt stood close beside him.  Neither met my gaze.  Both Aden and Liam smiled down at their plates.  Suspicious, I looked down at my plate.  Empty.  The last two bites had vanished.  My lips twitched again, and I shook my head and looked at Jim.  Jim widened his eyes and pointed discreetly at Emmitt.  Aden burst out in giggles.

I turned away from the foursome.  Jim’s antics would bring the boys out of their shell.  But what trouble would they learn from him?

Nana apparently had the same thought as she repacked the bags.

“Jim, if you can’t behave, you can go mow the lawn.  Boys, put your plates in the sink if you’re finished.  Emmitt, can you help me bring these up to their apartment?”  She indicated the bags as she picked up two herself.

The way she said “their apartment” warmed me, and I smiled at her as she passed.  I liked how she brought everything to order easily.

Jim put his plate in the sink, winked at Aden, and sauntered out the door as Emmitt grabbed several bags from the couch.  Aden quickly put his plate in the sink and followed Jim, saunter and all.  I caught Emmitt do a double take.  His lips tilted at the corners before he left, too.  Having Aden out of my sight for even such a short time worried me, and I was glad Liam remained by me.  Together, we quickly cleaned up lunch then went outside.  I easily spotted Aden.

Jim squatted next to the mower, Aden at his side mirroring his pose.  I could hear Jim explaining the names of the tools Emmitt still had laid out beside the now attached deck.

“What do you think, should we take her for a test drive?” he asked Aden.  I eyed the mower with concern.

Jim looked up at me.  “What do you think, Michelle?  If I hold him, can we go for a ride around the yard?”

Nana’s voice rang from inside the house, saving me from answering.  “Jim, I think the boys would be better served if you went to the basement to look for some of your old things.  I recall seeing gloves and a ball somewhere in that mess.”

Both Aden’s and Jim’s faces fell, but I was relieved that she’d discouraged the idea and saved me from saying no.

“Aden, you and Liam can wait on the porch with me,” she said as she walked out holding two plates, each with a cookie.  “It won’t take Jim long.”

The boys walked toward the porch.

Jim scowled playfully.  “Where’s my cookie?”

“You had more than your share of food at lunch.  If you want dessert, learn to eat what’s on your own plate,” Nana said mildly and patted each boy’s head as she handed over the cookies.