The Moment of Truth

Sam had a daughter in college?

He had more family here than he’d thought. College-age kids...

Sam and Cassie, picturing them with kids, made them so much more real.

And harder for him to resist.

When he noticed the narrow-eyed gaze Sam was giving him, Josh said, “Your daughter giving you problems, sir?”

“She’s a perfect kid, getting perfect grades, and I’m going to make damned sure no one breaks her heart, is all,” Sam said, the grin gone from his face. Josh pitied any man who messed with his cousin’s daughter.

“Mariah’s a freshman this fall. She’s dating a freshman from California and Sam’s not taking it well.”

“You two seem to know each other well,” Josh said. Leave it to him to gravitate to the one guy at work who was in with Sam Montford.

He just wasn’t going to catch a break—had obviously used up his allotment in his past life.

“I was born and raised in this town,” Ian said with a grin as Sam took a swig of beer. “You grow up here, you know pretty much everything about everyone else who grew up here,” Ian finished, losing the grin on his face as he looked from Josh to Sam.

Time to go. Back to his rented house. If Sam blew his cover...farther than that.

“He’s right about everyone knowing everything,” Sam said.

A warning to Josh?

“Which is why I left town when I wasn’t much older than Mariah,” Sam continued. “Thankfully my daughter’s a lot smarter than her old man.”

“She takes after your wife, then?” Josh couldn’t resist the jibe.

“Of course.” Sam’s expression took on a look Josh didn’t recognize. “But she’s not our biological child,” he said. “Mariah’s American-Indian. Her parents were two of my best friends in the world. They were killed in a terrorist attack in 2001. Mariah saw the whole thing. She was catatonic for months. It was Cassie, and her pet therapy, that saved that little girl’s life.”

“Cassie’s his wife,” Ian said. “And they have a son, too. Brian. He’s eleven and takes after Cassie for sure.”

Sam took a swig of beer at that and turned his grin on Ian. “Careful my man, I know your daddy and he’s pretty proud of you at the moment. I’d sure hate to see that change.”

The threat was nonsense, but Josh figured that Ian had just been told to keep his mouth shut.

Fair enough.

Sam was keeping Josh’s secret, respecting his choice to remain anonymous to the Montfords; it was only fair that the Montfords not be known to him.

But when he lay in bed alone that night, Josh wondered again if he was being a fool to think he could change who he was. Or could ever be anything but what he’d been born to be.

An image of Michelle confined to her bed flashed in front of his closed lids.

She was never going to be the same again.

And neither was he.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

ON THURSDAY, DONE at the university for the day, Dana stopped in at home after her one o’clock class before heading over to Josh’s house. She’d made cabbage rolls the night before and had frozen a couple of containers. She grabbed them both. And Lindy Lu, too. The two puppies were good company for each other.

While she was at Josh’s house, she pulled out her phone.

I’m an adult. It’s up to me to decide whether or not I need more than I am getting.

Agreed.

Less than two minutes had passed.

Encouraged by his rapid response she thumb typed:

You’ve been honest with me. I accept you as you are.

Okay.

An instant response.

She wasn’t reading him wrong. Josh cared. He just had issues to work through.

And if she could help him, then she wanted to do so. Just like she helped Jerome. And Sharon. And Lori.

And all of the dogs who needed homes.

* * *

JOSH MIGHT HAVE missed the dinner waiting for him in the freezer that night if not for the written heating instructions left on his counter.

While it was heating up in the microwave, he tossed a treat to L.G. and pulled out his phone.

You need to stop doing so much for everyone else. They’ll take advantage, he typed. Feeling as if he was doing her a favor, Josh hit Send.

If I don’t care if they take advantage, why should you?

Because he was trying to save her from him. Didn’t she get that?

The microwave beeped and, fork in one hand and phone in the other, Josh took his first bite while the container was still in the microwave.

Mmm. Cabbage rolls. Thank you.

You’re welcome. And I like helping people. If they take advantage, it’s on their conscience.