since they don’t fit anybody else right now.”
“That was nice of her,” Dwight said heartily.
Cal shrugged. “I have to give them back when they
get too tight, so that maybe Bert can wear them.”
He wasn’t openly sulking, and he wasn’t rude. He did
and said nothing that Dwight could use as a launching
pad for a lecture on attitude.
Sitting between them while the rain streamed down
and fogged the truck windows, Deborah was pleasant
and matter-of-fact. Had he not known her so intimately,
he could almost swear that it was a perfectly ordinary
morning. He did know her though, and he sensed her
conscious determination to keep the situation from be-
coming confrontational.
He also sensed the relief that radiated from both of
his passengers when they spotted the big yellow bus
lumbering down the road. Cal immediately pulled on
the door handle.
Although his hooded jacket was water-repellent,
Dwight said, “Wait till she stops or you’ll get soaked,”
but his son was out the truck so quickly that he had to
wait in the downpour for a moment before the driver
could get the door open.
Dwight sighed as the bus pulled off and he gave a
rueful smile to Deborah, who had not moved away even
though the other third of the truck’s bench seat was
now empty. “Sorry about that.”
174
HARD ROW
She laid a hand on his thigh and smiled back. A genu-
ine smile this time. “Don’t be. If he wasn’t mad because
I made him miss the game, I’d be worried. I like it that
he’s feeling secure enough to show a little temper.”
“You’re still not going to tell me what it was all
about?”
“One of these years, maybe. Not now though.”
“All the same,” he said as he pulled onto the road and
headed the truck toward Dobbs, “I think he and I are
due to have a little talk this afternoon.”
She considered the ramifications for a moment, then
said, “That might not be a bad idea. It won’t hurt for
him to hear again from you that he’s supposed to listen
to me when you’re not around so that he’ll know we’re
both on the same page, but please make it clear that you
don’t know any details and that you’re not asking for any,
okay?”
“Gotcha.”
She sighed and leaned her head against his shoul-
der. “Poor kid. I think it’s really starting to sink in that
