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“You have a much stronger pull. If anyone can do it, it’s you.” He leans in. “You make him happy, and maybe I’ll stop hating your selfish ass.”
I give him the brightest smile I can manage. “Cool. I’ll never stop hating you.”
His hand goes to his chest, faking offense. “Me? The fuck did I do to you?”
“Pissed me off when you called me Satan and for pulling me over for stupid shit over the years.”
“Prove to me you’re not.”
* * *
“What madeyou come back to this boring-ass town?” Rex, Kyle’s younger brother, asks.
We’re at the dining room table with a spread of food in front of us. I can’t believe I’m eating so many carbs this late.
“Language,” Nancy warns. “Just because you graduated doesn’t mean you can talk like a grown-up.”
“I technicallyama grown-up,” he fires back.
“Not in this house. Here, you’re still my child. So, keep your profanities to when you’re hanging out with your friends.”
Rex groans while putting his attention back on Gage. “Let me rephrase. Why’d you move away from Chicago? There’s nothing to do round here.”
That’s the mystery of the year.
I grab my water, hoping Gage will give him a better answer than he gave me. Doubt that will happen. Gage has loosened up since our heated talk in the car, but there’s still a wall built up in there.
“My dad needed me,” is all he says, taking a sip of water.
“We’re happy to have you back, and I’m thrilled you and Kyle are partners,” Nancy cuts in, most likely to stop her nineteen-year-old son from blurting out personal questions. “I had no idea you were in law enforcement.”
Gage wipes his mouth. “After I moved to Chicago, I went to school for a few years and did some security work, and that’s when I decided that I for sure wanted to be a police officer.”
“It’s what we said we’d always do,” Kyle chimes in.
Gage nods. “I guess the both of us still felt that calling.”
“I bet you saw some traumatic shit around Chicago, huh?” Rex asks. “I’ve heard at least one person gets shot a night.”
“Rex,” Kyle says in warning.
Instead of joking like he did when Nancy reprimanded him, Rex shuts his mouth and leans back in his chair.
“It’s a high-crime area for sure,” Gage answers. “It could be hard at times.”
“What …” Sierra, Kyle’s sister, hesitates before going on, “What is the worst thing you’ve ever seen?”
I don’t blame them for their curiosity. Blue Beech has one of the lowest crime rates in the country. Robberies are rare, let alone a homicide. Had I not worked in a hospital outside of town, where I saw more than they did, I would’ve been full of questions, too.
“I saw a woman kill her child,” Gage answers. “The worst thing I’ve ever seen is a mother who murdered her son.”
The table goes quiet. I drop my fork. A whimper falls from Nancy’s lips.
None of us expected that answer. Sierra and Rex were anticipating some high-speed chase, something exciting, not this appetite-killing reveal.
And, with the click of a question, Gage’s wall has returned, now stronger than ever.
His back is stiff against the chair, his fingers clenched around his fork, and from years of Gage experience, I know when he’s close to losing it. Someone needs to take this conversation down a different path. Everyone is thinking the same thing yet not saying anything.
