Page 30 of Tanner

“Yeah,” Cody said. “And then he had to keep her.”

The words hung there until Santino spoke quietly. “That changes the kind of choices available.”

Cody looked at him and nodded once. “Exactly.”

Miles put his fork down. He wasn’t hungry anymore. “What choices?”

TJ shifted but didn’t interrupt.

Cody’s eyes stayed on Miles. “The kind nobody wants to say out loud because once you say it, you can’t pretend you don’t know.”

Miles felt his stomach tighten.

Cody said, “A kid like Tanner, on his own, with a baby to feed, living wherever he could, doing whatever he had to do? You think he was making reckless choices for the hell of it?” He shook his head. “No. Everything would’ve gone through Savannah first. Can Savannah eat? Can she sleep somewhere safe? Can he keep hold of her for another day?”

Orsen let out a slow breath then nodded. “She would always come first.”

Miles said, more quietly, “You think he sold drugs.”

“Maybe ran them,” Cody said. “Maybe held onto packages for people he shouldn’t have been near. Maybe did odd jobs off the books for cash. Maybe stole food. Probably did more than one of those.”

TJ’s jaw tightened but he didn’t argue.

“And maybe worse,” Cody murmured.

No one spoke for a minute until Miles looked at Cody and asked, “How worse?”

Cody’s face stayed still. “Whatever he had to.”

TJ muttered, “Cody.”

“What?” Cody looked at him. “You asked what Tanner’s life probably looked like. I’m giving the honest answer.”

Orsen rested a hand on the table. “He’s right.”

Miles looked at Orsen.

Orsen sighed. “There’s a difference between somebody spiraling because they don’t care what happens to them and somebody making calculated choices because someone else depends on them.”

Cody nodded. “Yeah.” He looked directly at Miles. “What I did back then? A lot of mine was self-inflicted. I was angry and I hated myself. I pushed and pushed until I didn’t care if I wrecked my own life.” He tapped the table. “That’s not Tanner.”

Miles stayed still. Cody was suggesting something that Miles hadn’t considered. What would a teenager be willing to do to keep his baby sister safe?

Cody continued, “Tanner wouldn’t have been out there self-destructing for the sake of it. He’d have been doing the math in his head every day. Food. Rent. Bus fare. Medicine. Diapers and formula when she was little. Shoes when she outgrew the last pair. He’d have made the choices that kept her going, kept her alive, no matter what it cost him.”

Miles thought of Tanner’s clothes. His bare feet on the cold floorboards. The hard edge in his voice every time Savannah came up. The fact that he’d come back to Robinson with almost nothing except for her and what he needed to keep her with him.

Santino said, “That kind of survival leaves a mark.”

“Yeah,” Cody whispered. “It does.”

TJ finally pushed his plate away. “Which is why we keep this from turning into the town’s latest entertainment.” He looked at Miles. “People will talk soon enough. I’d rather they have less to talk about.”

Miles nodded, but his mind was already somewhere else. He’d wanted Tanner from the second the door had opened. That hadn’t changed, but now he had more to think about and it was harder to ignore.

Tanner wasn’t just a guy with sharp eyes, and a mouth Miles couldn’t stop thinking about. He was a nineteen-year-old who’d spent years making impossible calls to keep his sister safe. Knowing that should have made Miles step back a little, but he found he couldn’t do that. If anything, it only made him want Tanner more.

Miles dragged a hand over his face. “Christ.”