Page 445 of A Matter of Time

“Are you⁠—”

“Dane never touches me first. If I never hugged him again, he wouldn’t care. But you… Just how soft his eyes are when you walk into the room…it takes my breath away.”

It was a weird thing to say. It wasn’t something a brother would think, it was something a mother would think…an estranged one.

I watched the tears slowly slide down his cheeks.

“And now there’s Aja too. There used to be just you, but now she’s there.”

He wasn’t really talking to me. I wasn’t sure if he could even see me.

“I just wanted my life back, Jory… I wanted him back.”

My life back?

Crap. Scary things coming into focus that I needed to confirm. “Caleb?” I asked softly.

He looked confused. “No, Jory, it’s me.”

My stomach flipped over.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He didn’t think he was Caleb. Jesus, who did he think he was?

“I thought when I found him…since his adoptive parents were dead… I thought he would need us—need me. But he didn’t. He didn’t need any of us…because he had you.”

When did he go from being Caleb to being whoever he was now? He had started out as Caleb, but now…

“Why did you have to be there, Jory, dear?”

Dear?

“Funny… You really are such a good boy.”

He sounded just like…Susan.

“Shit,” I swore.

His head tilted like he was interested in what I was going to say, interested in what conclusion I would draw.

Holy crap. He thought he was his mother.

We stood there facing each other, him still holding his gun on me, me ready to try and dart away in hopes of not being murdered.

“Why kill all those guys?” I asked him, trying to strike up a conversation.

“I didn’t mean to,” he said, smiling at me coldly. “I just—Caleb likes you, and he was supposed to help.”

Meaning she wanted to kill me, but her son wouldn’t let her. “Did Caleb do anything?”

“He called you after you got away from me.”

“He didn’t kill anybody.”

“No, nobody.”

“You’re strong. They thought a man killed those guys.”