Oh man, I’d really put my foot in it. What had I been thinking? I hadn’t been, that was my problem. Why did I tell Lacey I knew it was over between her and Rob?

Of course she’d be upset with me for stepping into her life like that. I hadn’t meant to. I’d gone to Rob’s apartment to teach him a lesson, but not because he was Lacey’s fiancé.

It was because he was using her to get himself out of debt. He was trying to steal from her. What kind of a guy would I be if I didn’t step in to protect her from that? He wasn’t really her fiancé. He was a con artist. If it hadn’t been for those circumstances, I wouldn’t have sabotaged any relationship of hers, no matter how strongly I felt.

I’d royally screwed up. She thought I’d pushed Rob out of the picture so that I could move in. Of course she was mad. She had every right to be. I should have gone straight to her with the information about Rob. The truth was, I had treated her like a child. But I’d done so out of love. I’d wanted to protect her. I didn’t want her to know she’d chosen another cheating, lying son of a bitch. I wanted her to know she was better than that, that she deserved more.

Why were women so complicated? Why was life so complicated?

But there was nothing I could do about all that right now. I had work to do. A lot of work.

First, I went to my bank and deposited the money I’d stolen the night before into an account. Then I went back to the neighborhood Lacey and I had driven through on our way to the flower market.

I’d found out the address of the house where we’d stopped to talk to those boys and I headed straight there. When I arrived, I even saw the boys sitting outside the house on the front porch. They waved to me.

“Shouldn’t you boys be in school?” I said.

“Who’s going to make us go? You?”

I shook my head. “You’ll see,” I said to them, and drove off.

The realtor was located just a few blocks away in a small office in a strip mall. A bell clinked over my head as I entered. I was upset about the call from Lacey but I couldn’t focus on that for now. I had important things to take care of.

“Can I help you, sir?” a realtor in a short skirt with blond hair said to me.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I want to buy a house for my new wife. It’s a surprise.”

“How nice. And do you have a particular house in mind?”

I told her the address that was currently occupied by the teenage boys.

“That house is available at a good price, but I must warn you, sir, it’s currently occupied by some local youths. It might be a bit of a hassle getting rid of them.”

“I don’t want to get rid of them,” I said.

“What do you mean, sir?”

“I mean, they’re welcome to stay. I’m not kicking them out.”

“Well, that’s weird.”

“I’m a weird guy,” I said with a grin.

“It’s actually pretty kind of you.”

“My wife’s the one who’s kind,” I said. “This is all for her.”

“Do you have any idea how much you’d like to offer.”

“What are they asking?”

“It’s on the market for five hundred, but I’m sure we could bargain them down.”

“No, five hundred is fine. Just get all the paperwork drawn up for me. I want this to go through as soon as possible.”

“And will you be financing the transaction with a loan?”

“Cash.”

I signed some documents, left a ten thousand dollar deposit, and went back to the house. The boys were still there, sitting on the porch as if they didn’t have a care in the world. They looked like they were having fun, but I could tell from the looks on their faces there was some tension and worry under the surface.

They were concerned about their futures, and why wouldn’t they be? They had as much right as anyone to look forward to their future lives.

“Hey,” I said to them, “who lives in this house?”

The boy who looked like he was the oldest spoke up.

“We all do. There’s eight of us.”

I looked around at them and counted. They were between the ages of about sixteen and eighteen.

“Are you all enrolled in school?”

“The local high school,” the oldest boy said.

“And you don’t want to be taken in by child services?”

“That would be a disaster,” the boy said. “I mean, foster homes would be one thing, but they don’t have foster homes for boys like us. We’d all go straight into the system. We’d be institutionalized. It would be the first step on a route that would end us all up in prison.”

“I know that route,” I said. “I almost travelled it myself. If it wasn’t for a very good man, I’d be in prison right now.”

The boys nodded.

“So, I’m going to tell you what will happen,” I said. “You remember the lady that came by a while back in the car?”

“We remember her,” one of the boys said.

“It ain’t every day a white lady comes by here,” another said.

“Well,” I said, “this house belongs to her now. But she doesn’t want to kick you out.”

“She doesn’t?”

“She’s got a soft spot for boys on a rough road.”

“Lucky for us,” one of the boys said and laughed.

The oldest one raised his hands. “Wait a minute. If she ain’t kicking us out, what is she doing?”

“That will be up to her, but I imagine she’ll want what’s best for you.”

“What’s best for us?”

“Yes. So as of now, you’re all good to stay here, as long as you stay enrolled in the high school, and maintain good enough grades to graduate.”

“That ain’t hard,” the oldest boy said.

“Good. I’ll make it your responsibility to make sure everyone’s taking school seriously. If anyone flunks out or gets in trouble, I’ll need to know.”

The boy shrugged.

“What’s your name?” I said to him.

“Arnold.”

“All right, Arnold. My name’s Grant. This is the deal.” I handed him a credit card. It was one of many I had, and the limit wasn’t especially high. I knew he couldn’t cause too much trouble with it if he let me down. “You hold onto this card. As well as making sure everyone’s in school, I want you to call the power company, the heat company, the Internet company, the phone company, and even cable if you like.”

“You mean, we can get hooked up?”

“Yes. Hook everything up. If there are any problems, let me know.”

I wrote down my cell number on a piece of paper.

“You got a phone?” I asked.

“Yes, sir.”

I gave him my number.

“Thanks, Grant,” Arnold said.

“Don’t thank me,” I said. “Thank Lacey. She’s the one who’s responsible for all this.”

“Will we be seeing her?”

“You’ll see her soon enough. And you better be nice to her. She’s a good woman, and if you do right by her, she’ll change your entire life. Her father did it for me, and now I live a life most men could only dream of.”

“Because you stayed in school?”

I smiled. “There’s more to it than that, but don’t worry. I’ll show you when the time comes. For now, stay in school. Later, I promise you I’ll teach you skills you’ll be able to use to give yourselves good lives.”

“What kinds of skills?”

“It’s too early to tell you, but know this. If you listen to me, and if you listen to Lacey, you boys are going to do all right. I guarantee it. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll make men out of you. Effective men, who know how to get what they want, and know what to do with it when they get it.”

The boys nodded, as if hearing for the first time what they’d been waiting their entire lives to hear.

“So you’re saying, you’re going to look out for us?”

“Sounds good, don’t it?” I said.

“Too good,” Arnold said.

“Well, it won’t be a free ride, but I promise you this much. Lacey and I won’t ever ask you to do anything that won’t help you to become the men you want to become. So you think about it, and if it sounds good, you stick around in this house.”

They looked at each other. I knew they’d all take the offer. They didn’t have a lot of options.

“So when you said to hook up cable?” Arnold said.

“Everything,” I said. “Sports, movies, whatever you want. Just make sure you all don’t flunk out of school. If anyone’s failing, the rest of you help him out. If anyone flunks out of school, you’ll all pay for it.”

“All right,” Arnold said.

The rest of the boys seemed to be in agreement.

“Arnold, come over here with me,” I said.

He followed me out of the house, to the sidewalk. I wanted to speak to him privately.

“I know this is a lot of responsibility to put on you, but you look like you can handle it.”

He nodded.

“I’ll get a cleaner, a plumber and an electrician to come over and check things out. We’re going to make this a nice home for you guys. I’ll also get some furniture and other stuff organized. In the meantime, you help these boys get their schoolwork together, and keep the house clean. Do you hear me? When Lacey gets here, if this place is a mess, she ain’t going to be happy.”

“I hear you, Grant.”

“And go to the grocery store. Get some groceries. Fill the refrigerator. Healthy stuff. Milk, fruit, cereal, snacks. Use the credit card.”

“Yes, sir,” he said.

“Lacey will be here soon. You have this place looking good for when she arrives.”