“What if I mess everything up?”

“Then we’ll deal with whatever mess you make together,” I said.

“That’s what the together part means.”

He was quiet for a long moment.

“What if you regret it?

What if you take me in and then you wish you hadn’t?”

“I won’t regret it,” I said.

“And listen — even on a hard day, even if I’m tired or short-tempered or we’re fighting about something, that’s just an adult having a bad day.