Page 119 of Worth of Waste

They had grieved.

They had smiled a little less for a while.

But they came out just fine in the end.

Dino was going to keep letting them be fine.

They didn’t need him now.

He’d done his job.

He’d kept his promises.

“How did Theo look?” Karen asked as Dino entered the cabin’s kitchen.

He wasn’t even surprised that she knew where he had gone. It was becoming a habit for him lately. Even though he knew it was dangerous, and a little bit stupid, he found himself going into the city at least once a week to check on his brother or sister.

Up until the shooting that had nearly killed Theo, Karen too had gone out once a week to take Junior to meet up with his uncle.

Dino stayed hidden at the cabin, then. Theo never came to the cabin.

“In pain,” Dino finally said.

He came up behind her, kissing the back of her neck as she washed vegetables for supper.

“And Lily?”

“Worried, and pregnant.”

Karen nodded. “Theo mentioned something about that the last time we talked.”

She didn’t tell him a lot of details about her conversations with Theo. It was easier on Dino that way, and he could pretend like he didn’t want to know because then he was allowing his siblings a real chance at life and freedom without him.

He wanted the same—they all deserved it.

“Theo called before you even got back here,” Karen admitted.

Dino stiffened. “Oh?”

“Thanked me again for coming so late to visit with him and Lily that night at the hospital. He wants to see Junior when he’s feeling more up to moving around.”

“Sure.”

“Someday, I’m going to have to start telling him no, Dino.”

He knew that.

He also knew Theo probably wouldn’t understand why Karen refused to take their son out to visit his uncle in the city, but like the good man he was, Theo would accept her choices.

“It’s just that Junior talks about you when Theo’s there, saying his daddy told him this or that, or he did this or that with his daddy,” Karen said quietly. “Theo usually takes it as Junior means before, but as he gets older, J should understand the difference between now and then, Dino. Theo’s not stupid.”

“I know,” Dino murmured.

“He loves that boy.”

“He still will.”

Karen nodded. “You hungry?”