Page 29 of Tanner

Cody leaned forward slightly. “How’s Savannah?”

Miles paused, then said, “She was at Mrs. Hemsworth’s.”

“And Tanner?” TJ asked.

Miles took a drink before answering. “Still defensive.”

“That’s to be expected,” Orsen said.

“Still tired,” Miles added. “Still trying to act like he’s got everything under control.”

TJ rubbed at his jaw. “House any warmer?”

Miles shook his head. “No power yet. Place is still cold and there isn’t much food in there either.”

Cody’s expression shifted at that, and he nodded slowly before giving TJ a soft smile. TJ returned it and reached out to take Cody’s hand.

Miles looked down at his plate. “He’s keeping hold of the important stuff. Her birth certificate, clinic paperwork, whatever proves her ties to him. That part’s covered. Everything else isn’t.”

Santino put his bottle down. “How bad did it look?”

Miles thought about the kitchen. The dark and Tanner’s bare feet on the cold floorboards. The way he’d stood all defensive until.... “Bad enough.”

Orsen nodded slowly. “He was a kid when he left.”

Miles glanced at him. “You knew him well?”

Orsen shrugged once. “Well, not much, but this is Robinson. We all knew each other one way or another.”

TJ took a sip of his beer. “Tanner kept to himself even back then.”

Cody took a bite of his food. “Even as fucked up as I was back then, I remember how quiet he was.”

TJ looked at him. “Cody.”

Cody met TJ’s eyes, then looked back at Miles. “What exactly did Tanner tell you?”

“Not much,” Miles said. “Enough to make it clear he doesn’t trust anybody.”

Cody leaned back in his chair. “He wouldn’t.”

Miles waited, knowing Cody was about to tell him something important. Cody’s life had been very different than Miles’, and it gave him a different perspective.

Cody rubbed his thumb along his bottle of water. “Everyone in town talks about Tanner leaving with Savannah like it was some mystery. Boy vanishes. House sits empty. End of story. That’s the version they tell themselves, so they don’t have to look too hard at their own behavior back then.”

Miles looked at him. “Meaning?”

Cody held his gaze for a second. “I wasn’t here when he left. I don’t know the full story. But he was sixteen with a baby and no money or family.”

Miles said nothing.

Cody went on, voice dropping. “Knowing this place, people would’ve offered sympathy for all of five minutes. Maybe even a few casseroles. Next thing Tanner knows, there’s forms, and appointments, and too many people in his face, and he’s overwhelmed. Then CPS.” Cody shrugged. “A baby that young? It wouldn’t have taken much for people to start getting ideas.” Cody trailed off, but Miles understood.

TJ stared into his beer. “That was the risk, yeah.”

“And Tanner knew it,” Cody said. “He might not have had the words for all of it then, but he knew enough. Once someone else got hold of her, getting her back wouldn’t have been simple.”

Miles thought of Tanner’s face every time Savannah came up. The way his whole body changed. “He ran before they could take her.”