“No, only mostly. For someone who talks big about stability and order, you’re not exactly setting a poster child example.”
“I—”
He cut off her hot protest with a lifted hand. “Inside. Go wash up. I’ll have my not so famous chicken salad sandwiches ready in ten minutes.”
“Where’d we get chicken salad?” she asked hesitantly. But she stepped up onto the porch.
“Since you haven’t looked inside the fridge all day, you wouldn’t have noticed that I didn’t just get myself a few things. The idea of groceries around here seemed to be milk, peanut butter, and a lot of canned goods. I stocked up on a few things that had more appeal.”
She bit her lower lip. “I didn’t have time to go shopping this week.”
“Yeah, well your local grocery store doesn’t exactly offer a wide variety, but we’ve got fresh produce, I picked up a cooked chicken—which is where the salad came from—and I’m planning to grill up some burgers tonight. I also want to talk to you about taking Jason to see a specialist in San Diego.”
“Dammit, I knew there was a catch to all this free food.”
“Yeah, well, eat first, talk later.” Slade led the way into the house. He made up sandwiches with the bread he’d bought—that had looked freshly made and local at least—sliced tomatoes, lettuce, and the chicken salad. He put a plate in front of Bethany and then headed down the hall to get Jason from his room.
Jason lay on his stomach, his face half buried in his pillow.
Slade glanced around the room. It looked like any kid’s room. Sport posters on the walls, a messy bed, and clothes spilling out of a hamper. Slade noticed what was missing—no baseball glove or bat, no sign that Jason had been encouraged to get into sports and do more than watch or play them on video games. That wasn’t right.
Five photos stood out on a battered dresser. One showed Tayra and Jason, but the other four were of Jason and Bethany, all at different places, and both of them grinning into the camera. Slade made up his mind right then—she was important to Jason.
He glanced at the small boy on the bed, cleared his throat, and said, “Lunch is on.”
“Not hungry,” Jason muttered.
Slade slapped a hand across his butt. Jason bolted upright, glaring at Slade. “Couple of new rules,” Slade said. “Number one, you don’t miss a meal; not unless you’re too sick to eat. Number two, you never lie. Number three, you got some itch under your skin, you tell me about it or you tell Bethany. Now is she the problem here?”
Jason shook his head. He kept glaring up at Slade. “I wish you were dead instead of my mom.” The words burst out. Jason’s eyes widened.
Sitting down on the bed next to Jason, Slade put his palms on his knees. “I wish that, too, buddy. I’d have traded place with her, if I could. But that wasn’t a call I got to make. You don’t get to either. You miss her?”
Head low, Jason muttered something.
Slade knocked Jason’s shoulder with his own. “Speak up. You mumble like that, folks will think you can’t talk.”
Jason looked up. “Did you know my mom?”
Slade nodded. “I did. Your mom and I…well, I knew her a long time ago. Before you were born.”
Jason thought about that for a minute. He scrubbed at his face with his hand “Why didn’t you ever come to see her?”
“I don’t think she wanted to share you with me. I think your mom was scared about a lot of things. I think one of them was maybe losing you. She probably figured I’d meet you, like you, and want to hang on to you.”
Jason’s face screwed up. His room, Slade noticed, smelled like dirty socks and bubble gum. Glancing at Slade, Jason said, “
Mom didn’t like to be scared. She didn’t even like to watch any kind of action films. She didn’t want me to watch ’em, either.”
“But you did?” Slade could already guess the answer.
Jason dug one tennis shoe under the rug beside his bed. He glanced at the door and lowered his voice. “Don’t tell Bethany, but Mike—he gets homeschooled like me—but his folks let him watch war movies. They say it’s like learning history.”
“Jason, did your mom ever tell you anything about your daddy?”
Jason shrugged. “She said he was nice. That he couldn’t be with us because what he did was too dangerous.”
Slade nodded. His job could be dangerous at times. He’d been shot at more than once, but luck had kept him safe.