Benny picked up the basket of laundry. After weeks of being worn without washing, the clothes were stained and ragged looking, but now they were clean and fresh from the dryer now. He wasn’t going to mind putting them on again. He turned to take them into the room where he’d been sleeping, and came face to face with Scott’s mom. Mrs. Sullivan let out a high-pitched scream that startled them both. Benny dropped the laundry basket. It clattered on the concrete floor—scattering clean laundry everywhere—and for a moment they stood there frozen, staring at each other in shock.

She recovered first. She pressed a hand to her chest and let out a relieved sounding little sigh. “Oh my lord, Benny Fuller, you nearly scared me to death.”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. But what on earth are you doing here? Scott has been looking for you for weeks and I thought he’d given up hope but—” She gave him a suspicious look. “How long have you been here?”

“Just since yesterday afternoon,” he muttered. “Scott tracked me down then. I’ve been living in my car and he found me. He convinced me to come back here to stay. We were trying to figure out some way to tell you but ...”

“But where on earth did you sleep last night?” she asked, sounding bewildered. “Oh, he probably put you in Misty’s old room. I thought I heard Scott creeping down there last night and I couldn’t figure out what on earth he was doing. That explains it.”

Benny’s face heated. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Sullivan. I’ll leave.”

“Well, I’m not thrilled with either of you hiding this from me. Any of it. But we’ll deal with that later. I am certainly not kicking you out of the house.”

“You’re not?”

“No. Now, I suggest you pick up those clothes. I haven’t swept down here in ages, so you may as well toss them in the wash again. My clothes can wait. Then I want you to come upstairs and sit down and talk to me. We have some things to figure out.”

Ten minutes later, Benny stood next to the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard, the urge to run almost too strong to ignore. He didn’t trust anyone to help him. He didn’t trust anyone. Period. Except Scott. And maybe not even him. What did he know about what Benny was dealing with?

But Mrs. Sullivan had always been nice to him. She’d told him she wasn’t kicking him out. She’d offered to let him do his laundry again. Didn’t she at least deserve to have him listen to her? And his clothes were currently spinning around in the washer so he couldn’t exactly leave with a bag filled with wet laundry. He didn’t really have much choice.

What was waiting for him out there? Being cold and lonely? Being hungry and tired and desperate all the time?

He walked upstairs slowly; terrified he was making the wrong decision. Mrs. Sullivan was leaning against the kitchen counter, drinking a cup of coffee. She gestured for him to sit and he hesitantly pulled out a chair at the kitchen table.

“Are you hungry?” she asked when he was seated.

Benny shrugged. “Scott brought some food down last night.”

A sad look crossed over her face. “Oh, sweetheart. I know things have been rough for you, but you deserve three square home cooked meals a day. Let me throw together some eggs and toast for you to eat while we talk. We might even have some sausage in the refrigerator, now that I think about it.”

Benny really wanted to argue, but it sounded so good. He’d eaten last night so he wasn’t hungry the way he had been for the past few weeks, but he wasn’t going to turn down a meal when it was offered. And if he did end up having to leave, at least he’d go with a full stomach. “Thanks,” Benny said quietly. “That would be nice.”

She pulled open the refrigerator. “Now tell me from beginning to end what happened.”

Benny let out a little sigh and told her everything while she cooked. About how bad things were in the Fuller house. About his dad going to jail and his mom being a junkie and his sister’s asthma. He told her about the wallet and the judge and juvie. About living in his car and wanting to get Angel back. It spilled from his lips like a waterfall from a dam and it didn’t stop until he told her about Scott finding him and bringing him to the Sullivan house. “I know we shouldn’t have lied to you,” he said. “Or hid, anyway, but ...”

“You were scared, weren’t you?” Her voice was very soft as she slid three eggs and four links of sausage onto a plate, then piled two pieces of toast next to it. There was orange juice and butter and jam and Benny’s stomach rumbled with eager anticipation. It all looked so good.

Benny nodded in response to her question as he cut into his egg. He had been scared. He still was.

“I can certainly see why you were. I am so sorry, Benny. I’ve let you down.” She took a seat in the chair across the table from him.

He stared at her in shock. “You let me down?” he sputtered.

“You’re my son’s best friend. I should have seen what was happening with your family. I had no idea things had gotten so bad with your grandmother gone. You were always clean, your clothes were washed, you were going to school ... the typical warning signs weren’t there. And I’ve been so preoccupied with the shop. It’s no excuse though; I should have been paying more attention.” Her eyes were watering and she wiped at them with her fingertips. I knew your parents weren’t ... well, let me just say that I knew you didn’t have the ideal home life. But you were a sweet kid. You did well in school, you were polite and friendly, you seemed to be getting by okay. I had no idea that you were doing it all yourself.”

“I didn’t have any choice,” Benny said. “And there was Angel to think about.”

Mrs. Sullivan reached out and touched his hand. “I know. You did remarkably well, Benny. You really did. But it’s awful. You should never have been put in that position. You’re just a kid and ...” She looked up at the ceiling and clenched her fists. “It just makes me so angry that the system failed you and Angel in so many ways. It’s a disgrace.”

“Umm.” Benny looked up from his plate to see Scott staring at him and his mom. “I thought you were going into the store today, Mom.”

“I was planning on it,” she said drily as she sat upright. “But your father opened the shop and you were still fast asleep so I thought I’d go in a little later with you. I figured I could throw a load of laundry in and get caught up on a few things around the house while I waited for you to wake up. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Benny doing laundry in our basement.”

“I thought everyone had left,” Benny said helplessly. “Scott said in his note that you were all going to the store.”

Mrs. Sullivan nodded. “Well, none of that matters now. What matters is that I know Benny is here and that he’s in a rough spot. Although you are in big trouble for lying to me and hiding Benny from us, young man.” She aimed the last part at her son and Benny felt awful for getting Scott in trouble. That’s exactly what he’d been trying to avoid.

“I don’t want to be a burden on any of you,” Benny said. “I can get all my things together as soon as the laundry is done and I’ll be out of your hair.” He stood and looked at Scott, his eyes stinging. “You’ve been so nice to me, but I’m going nowhere, Scott. I’m just gonna drag you down with me.”

“Oh, no, you’re not.”

Once again, Benny was startled by Mrs. Sullivan. But this time, her words hurt. He wiped at his eyes with his sleeve. “See, Scott? Your mom doesn’t want me to drag you down either. Just let me leave, and you can move on.”

Mrs. Sullivan crossed her arms over her very prominent chest and scowled at him. “I’ve known you since you were eight years old, Benjamin Fuller, don’t you dare put words in my mouth that I didn’t say. I was talking about the fact that no boy who cares for my son and takes care of his sister as you do could ever bring him down. What I don’t like is that you didn’t come to me for help when things got so bad.”

Benny looked down at the borrowed white socks he wore, not really seeing them or the colorful rug on the tile kitchen floor below them. “I was embarrassed,” he muttered.

“I know and I understand that,” Mrs. Sullivan said quietly. “And while you told me a lot today, I’m quite sure you left some of it out. It makes my heart hurt just imagining it all. But if you are willing to be honest from here on out and accept my help, we’ll get this figured out.”

“Mrs. Sullivan ...”

She looked him square in the eye. “Look, I know you want to be the man of the family and take care of yourself and your sister. But Benny, if you want to be Angel’s legal guardian one of the most important lessons you need to learn is to ask for help. You have to understand you can't do it all yourself. You will have to make decisions that are difficult and uncomfortable in order to do what's best for both of you. It may mean swallowing your pride because your pride is less important than Angel’s health and well-being.”

Benny nodded. He knew in his heart what she was saying was true, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. Mrs. Sullivan continued, “In order to properly care for Angel, you need to look out for yourself as well. You’re not helping anyone by turning away people who care about you and want to help you get where you need to be.”

“There’s no magic wand that’s going to fix this though,” he said, frustrated.

She pursed her lips. “Benny, would you please let me talk? I’m well aware there’s no magic wand. But I’m going to offer you a part-time job at the shop. Business slows down after the holidays, but I’ll still need help lifting boxes and taking care of the inventory. We need to completely revamp our storage system and I can’t think of a better time to do that than when I’ve got someone who can do the heavy lifting. It’s not going to pay a lot, but it should help you set aside a little money.”

Benny nodded, feeling a little shell-shocked by her offer. A part of him wanted to argue, but she was right. If he turned this down, he’d only be hurting Angel and himself.

“We are going to talk to the school, however. You need an education if you want to get the kind of job that will allow you to support yourself and your sister. If the high school won’t let you finish your degree, we’ll look into you getting your GED.”

Benny hung his head. “I don’t have anywhere to live,” he protested. “All I have is my car and I can’t work at the shop and go to school smelling like I’ve been ... well, living in my car.” He had to breathe deep to keep the hot tears from flowing. It was so humiliating.

“Well, I assumed you’d stay with us,” she said. “You can sleep in Misty’s old room. We’ll get that space cleared out as soon as we can. You won’t be sleeping in Scott’s room. But that would be true of anyone he dated. I hope you know that?”

Benny blinked in shock and stared at Scott, who just shrugged as if to say “that’s my mom for you,” which was true, but still weird. Benny nodded, reeling from all of this, but so incredibly grateful.

“Yeah, I know,” he managed. “I understand.” He realized he’d all but agreed to work at the gift shop and live with the Sullivans. How in the hell had that happened?

“Do you know where Angel is living right now?” Mrs. Sullivan asked.

He shook his head. “No. I saw her at her old school so she must be in the area still but that’s all I know for sure.”

“Well, we’ll have to call social services then,” she said. “We’ll figure out where she’s living so you can visit her. There’s no reason they should deny that.”

“I can’t let Angel stay in foster care though,” he protested. “What if they hurt her? Or neglect her? She has asthma and—”

“Why don’t we see what the situation she’s in right now is like before we make any decisions?” Mrs. Sullivan stepped forward, speaking gently. “There are good foster parents out there. She may be in a safe, happy home.” Benny started to argue. “However, if she’s not, we’ll figure something out. I won’t let anything happen to her. You’ll be eighteen in a couple of weeks, right?”

He nodded. His birthday was the fifth of January.

“Well, I think we may just wait until after your birthday to notify child services that you’ve been found. When it’s too late for them to do anything about it.”

Benny felt a swooping sense of relief. He didn’t want to go back to that foster home, even if it was for less than two weeks. And once he was an adult, they couldn’t make him go anywhere.

Mrs. Sullivan continued. “There may be a way you can become Angel’s legal guardian eventually. It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible either. But it will take time. Until then, if need be, we’ll see if we can take her in. John and I have fostered plenty of kids over the years and if we stress the fact that we already know her, you and Scott grew up together, and that you’ll be living here as well, it should help our case.”

Huh. That was true. The Sullivans were foster parents. In fact, Scott had been a foster kid himself before being adopted by the Sullivans when he was five. Benny had almost forgotten about it, because Misty had been the last of the foster kids. And she was a good ten years older than Scott and Benny.

“What about Mr. Sullivan?” Benny asked. “Won’t he be mad if you do all of this without talking to him first? I mean, taking in foster kids and giving me a job at your business and ...”

Mrs. Sullivan gave him a soft smile. “You’re right, those are big decisions that we would normally make together. But this is a bit of an emergency. I know he’ll be happy to have someone else working at the shop because he was just telling me last night we should have hired an extra set of hands for the holidays. And I know for a fact that he would never accept letting a kid sleep in his car and go hungry when we could do something about it. So yes, I will certainly talk to him about it, but I assure you, he will be fine with it.”

“Okay,” Benny said quietly. “If you’re sure ...”

“I’m sure.” Mrs. Sullivan said simply. “I’m not offering you a magic solution. It’s going to be hard work for you, and I have plenty of expectations about your behavior. You’re going to have to live by our household rules. I don’t know what will happen with your sister either, but we’ll do our best. I can’t promise everything will go the way we want it to, but I can promise we’ll try.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Benny’s voice was hoarse, and Scott slid an arm around his waist as if to comfort him. Benny had almost forgotten he was there. “Thank you, I guess, but that doesn’t seem like enough.”

Mrs. Sullivan smiled, her eyes brimming with tears, and said, “It’s Christmas,” as she hugged them both. As if that explained everything. For a lady in a gaudy Christmas sweater with ornament earrings, maybe it did.

***

That afternoon, Scott and Benny followed Mrs. Sullivan to the gift shop in Benny’s car. With the Christmas rush, there was plenty for him to do, but Benny didn’t mind working hard. Especially now that he had a full belly and a place to sleep. And best of all, hope that he could get Angel back. It was hard trusting that Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan would do the right thing. That they’d help him out of the goodness of their hearts. But it was a little easier to believe with Scott holding his hand tight.

When they arrived, the Sullivan’s went into their office at the back of the store and talked for a while. When they came out, Mr. Sullivan clapped Benny on the shoulder and said, “Glad to have you here helping out, Benny,” like Benny was the one doing him a favor.

And that was how Benny knew Mr. Sullivan was totally fine with him staying. “Glad I can help,” Benny said thickly.

“Well, there’s lots of work to be done,” Mr. Sullivan said. “So let’s get started. Benny, let me show you what I need you to do.”

Benny was tired at the end of the day. He’d spent all day hauling boxes and restocking merchandise and taking out the trash and sweeping. But it was a good tired. He felt like he’d really accomplished something. He’d even made a run to the restaurant down the street to pick up lunch for all of them, plus Claudia, who worked at the counter. Mrs. Sullivan called in the order, then handed over two fifty dollar bills to him without blinking. She trusted him. And somehow that seemed more meaningful than anything else. If someone like her was willing to give him a chance, he must not be a total screw up.

***

That night, they ate takeout pizza, breadsticks, and salad around the Sullivan’s dinner table like some kind of totally normal family. Like it used to be when Scott and Benny were growing up and he’d come over for dinner. As things got worse in the Fuller house, Benny used to imagine moving in with the Sullivans. And now, here he was.

After dinner, he and Scott loaded the dishwasher and cleaned the kitchen while Scott’s parents got comfortable in the living room. When they were done, Scott grabbed his still-damp hand and tugged him in there as well.

“We were thinking we’d watch a Christmas movie tonight. What do you boys think?” Mr. Sullivan asked. He didn’t blink at the sight of his son holding hands with another guy.

Still feeling vaguely in shock and overwhelmed by the sudden good fortune, Benny just mutely nodded. He let Scott manhandle him onto the sofa and pull a blanket over the two of them. He let everyone else pick out the movie, but he couldn’t really follow it. His brain was still whirling with thoughts of everything that had happened recently.

A couple of days ago, he’d been sitting in his car feeling utterly helpless and hopeless. He’d been homeless, broke, and desperate. And now, here he sat in a nice warm living room bathed in the colorful lights from the Christmas tree. Scott had his arms around Benny and Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan didn’t care at all. In fact, several times he caught Mrs. Sullivan glancing at them out of the corner of her eye and smiling to herself.

The Sullivans didn’t think he was useless or a terrible person. They liked him. They approved of him and Scott together. They wanted to help him and Angel. It seemed like too much. How could anyone be that nice? That selfless and giving and ... Someone on the TV cried out that it was a Christmas miracle and Benny nodded to himself.

That was exactly what this was. He didn’t know that he believed in miracles, but if they existed this was definitely it. They’d snatched Benny out of the bleak, dark hole he’d been in and wrapped him up, safe and warm, in Christmas lights and reindeer sweaters and love.

Benny’s eyes stung and his throat felt so tight he could hardly breathe. He got up and muttered something about needing to use the bathroom. He sat in there a long while, just trying to breathe and not feel totally overwhelmed by all of it. He was done fighting it. He still wasn’t sure he deserved any of this but Angel did and if he could give Angel a life like this he was going to do everything he could to make it happen. He was going to let the Sullivans run this show because frankly, he’d done a shitty job of it himself and clearly they knew what they were doing far better than he did.

If they did it for him he knew he could trust them to do it for Angel.

Maybe they wouldn’t give her a Christmas miracle this year—there wasn’t time with just two days to go—but he believed them when they said they’d make sure she was safe and well cared for. And that was miracle enough.

Benny blew his nose on a tissue, wiped his eyes on the old sweatshirt of Scott’s he wore, then opened the bathroom door. Scott was waiting on the other side. He took one look at Benny and held out his arms. Benny crumpled into them with a little gasping sob and buried his head against Scott’s neck.

He wasn’t sure exactly when he’d decided to get back together with Scott. Maybe he’d never really made the decision at all. Scott had just acted like they were back together and, well, Benny couldn’t think of a solid reason not to be. His arguments about not being good enough were dissipating like smoke now that the world seemed less bleak. The Sullivans sure didn’t care. They assumed he and Scott were together. In fact, Benny had wanted to melt into the floor when Mrs. Sullivan pulled him aside for a safe sex lecture earlier that day, but it was kind of nice to know they were on board with it. So why not? If he wanted to be with Scott and Scott wanted to be with him, why shouldn’t they be together?

Did he deserve Scott? Maybe not. But he clutched the back of Scott’s hoodie a little tighter and decided that if he didn’t deserve him now that was just too bad. He was going to hold onto him until he did deserve him. And he wasn’t going to let go even then.