It was sucky on so many levels.His heart panged.Imagine being JT’s widow, pregnant, knowing her child was gonna grow up fatherless.
Lee swore.“Sorry, I meant shoot.I should’ve asked before.Do you need groceries?”
“Um, probably.I hadn’t thought about that.I should’ve done an online order but it slipped my mind.”
“Tell me what you need for now and I’ll swing by the store.Then you could maybe do an online order tonight for anything you missed out.It’s a bit late in the day to expect to get anything delivered now.”
“Thanks Lee.”
Fifteen minutes later Lee had collected what Kyle needed and they were headed back to Kyle’s apartment.But roadwork meant the usual exit was closed and traffic had banked up again.
“I know a shortcut,” Lee promised.
“Sure.”
Lee veered off the freeway, and they were soon in a tangle of one-way streets in a neighborhood that was not like his at all.The community here wasn’t exactly a ghetto, but it was obvious that the income bracket wasn’t high.This soon passed into a suburb where the houses were set on separate plots at least, but still nothing like what he’d grown up on, let alone where he lived now.
“This shortcut seems to be taking a really long time,” he teased.
“Yeah, sorry.I didn’t realize there were quite so many one-way streets earlier.”
“It’s okay.It’s not like I need to hurry back for anything.”
A bus turned the corner, the same color and markings as earlier drawing his eye.
His heart picked up.Was that Gen’s bus?
He watched it slow, then sure enough, Gen descended the steps.
“Wait!”
Lee stomped on the brakes and the car jerked to a pause.“What’s wrong?”
He had to provide some reason for waiting.“I, uh, know that woman.”
“Yeah?Want to see if she needs a ride?”
That probably wouldn’t go down well.She’d be wondering what he was doing here, and yeah… same.“I just wanna make sure she gets home safe.”
“Yeah, this isn’t the neighborhood that I’d want any family members living in.”
True.
Maybe she didn’t live here.Maybe this was a visit to one of her own friends.
A car honked at them, and he realized Lee had parked partway on the road.“Hey, I don’t want you to get busted by the police.”
“I won’t.But maybe if you want to see your friend—oh, there she goes.”
She went into the garden of a nondescript brown-planked house, with brown shutters that looked like they’d last been painted in the seventies.His heart panged.Gen lived there?
The door opened and a little girl threw herself at Gen.His heart eased.Okay.It had to be a friend’s place, after all.
The thought that Gen would see him and think him a creeper tensed his gut.“Let’s go.”
“You don’t want to say hello?”
“No.”
