“Where’s Romper?” one of the boys asked as Manny and Hamlin came into the living room.
“I left him at Manny’s place, where hopefully he’s behaving,” Hamlin replied.
Gebhard looked up from what he was doing, frowning slightly. “You’re here again?”
“I don’t go to work for another two hours. I’d rather kill time here than walking the streets.”
“What are you doing again? I forgot.”
“Sure you did,” Manny muttered softly as he went to check on the boys who were out on the terrace.
“I work at a pizza place midtown.”
Gebhard just nodded, his attention now on Manny. “Get them in here for dinner,” he called out. “And by the way, you’re late.”
“My fault,” Hamlin said before it could become an issue. “Or Romper’s to be exact. He wanted to mark every tree on the way from my place to Manny’s. I lost track of time while he did.”
Gebhard’s eyebrows went up, but he made no comment on that as he pushed away from the desk to help Manny shepherd the boys out of the room into the kitchen for dinner.
Jakie managed to avoid following, without them being aware. He came over to Hamlin, looking up at him. “He’s been real grumpy the last couple of days.”
Hamlin smile wryly. “I’ve noticed.”
“I don’t think he likes you and Manny, well, you know.”
“What makes him think we’re more than just friends?” Hamlin asked quietly.
Jakie grinned. “I knew it.”
“Oh boy, I walked into that, didn’t I?”
“Umm humm, big time. But still, that could be the reason he’s always on Manny’s ass. I think someone ratted you out.”
“Why?”
Jakie shrugged. “He doesn’t know I know, but he got a letter, like special delivery. It was after that that he started being so pissy.”
“Must have been some letter.”
“I don’t know. He stuffed it in his pocket and later it was gone.”
“Don’t tell me, you tried to get it.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you,” Jakie said with a grin. “But yeah, I did.” He jumped when he heard Gebhard shout for him to get into the kitchen if he wanted dinner, and hurried off.
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