Cam leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “What kind of things?”
“Things I’d rather not get into.” Tanner swallowed hard. “Not because I don’t think you can handle it, but because I’m not sure if you’d believe me.”
Cam’s gaze went from him to Zarina, then back again. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that you’re half a foot taller and forty pounds heavier than you were the last time I saw you?”
Damn. How the hell had Cam made the connection? Then again, his brother was a cop. He was paid to be observant.
“Yeah,” Tanner admitted. “But like I said, I’d rather not get into any more details than that. Suffice it to say, people died—a lot of people. I would have died, too, but Zarina was there, and she got me out. She risked her life for me when I was ready to give up and die.”
Cam regarded Zarina thoughtfully. “I get the feeling there’s an epic story behind all this, but I’ll take it on faith that you can’t tell me any more than Tanner can. So I’ll just say thank you. My big brother might be a pain in the ass, but he’s the only brother I have, and I love him. Thanks for risking your life to save him.”
Zarina nodded, reaching up to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye before it could run down her cheek.
Cam sat back in the booth, his gaze on Tanner. “All that stuff would have been what, two years ago at most? Where have you been since then?”
Okay, he was going to have to be careful around his brother. Cam was piecing together little details fast as hell. If Tanner wasn’t careful, Cam was going to be neck-deep in more secrets than he’d know what to do with.
“After Zarina got me out of that place, I was messed up. Even more messed up than I’d been before, if that’s possible.”
Zarina opened her mouth to protest, but Tanner cut her off with a look. She’d defend him to the death, but this was one time when the truth couldn’t be denied.
“Long story short, I’ve been living on a federal compound in DC trying to get my head back together,” Tanner explained. “Unfortunately, I still have some issues, so it’s not good for me to be around other people. Especially people I care about. That’s why I never called.”
His brother frowned. “What are you doing back here then?”
Tanner shrugged and stared down at his hands loosely clasped together on the table in front of him. “Some things happened a little while ago that made me think it would be better if I came back out here to Wenatchee to see if living on my own might help.”
“A decision I didn’t get a chance to be a part of and was adamantly against,” Zarina put in. “Tanner was doing well back in DC, but he’s stubborn, and when he thinks he’s a danger to those close to him, he tends to go with the most extreme option available.”
Cam’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Well, at least one thing hasn’t changed about my brother. He never did anything halfway.”
Tanner opened his mouth to protest, but just then, a young guy with dark hair appeared at the table with three glasses of water and an order pad shoved in the pocket of his apron. “Sorry you’ve been waiting so long. No one told me you were back here. Do you have any questions about the menu?”
The poor guy looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown, and Tanner couldn’t help but take pity on him. “Don’t worry about it. We’re not in any rush.”
The three of them decided to go with chili cheeseburgers, fries, and Cokes. After their server left, they turned to relatively safe topics while they waited for their food. Like where Zarina was from and why Cam became a cop. Cam quickly figured out Tanner and Zarina were in some kind of relationship—following him all the way across the country was pretty much a dead giveaway—but he didn’t make a big deal out of it.
Once the safe topics were covered, the elephant in the diner couldn’t be ignored any longer, and Tanner forced himself to ask the question that had been on his mind since he’d called his brother.
“How are Mom and Dad and the girls?”
His brother pinned him with a look. “You want the BS answer that will make you feel better, or do you want the truth?”
Tanner didn’t have to ask to know his family would take his absence hard. They’d always been close. Right up until the point when he’d walked out on them.
“The truth can’t be any worse than my imagination has made it out to be,” he said.
Cam sighed. “Like I said before, Mom worries about you a lot. She lights a candle for you at church all the time. And while I don’t have any proof, I’m pretty sure she hired a private investigator to track you down. She refuses to let Dad change anything in your old room and keeps it the same way it was when you were in the army, on the off chance you come back and need a place to stay.”
Tanner groaned. Maybe this was worse than he’d imagined. He’d known his mom would be upset when he left, but he told himself she would recognize he was doing it for their own good. Apparently, she hadn’t.
“Dad blames himself for you leaving.” Cam sipped his drink. “He insists everything that happened that morning was his fault. He spent about the first year driving around town looking for you like you were a lost puppy before he finally stopped. He doesn’t join Mom when she goes to
